Bumblebees and honeybees both live in colonies. They each have a body of female worker bees, a single egg-producing queen and a number of male drone bees. However, bumblebee colonies are annual and die out at the end of summer, while honeybee colonies can live for decades.
For this reason, bumblebee colonies never have time to grow very large tend to be small in comparison to honeybees. The most populous bumblebee colonies max out at around individuals, which is nothing for a honey bee colony. The average honey bee colony boasts 50, bees. As summer comes to a close, bumblebee colonies begin to make new queens.
As with honeybees, the queens leave the colony to mate with males from other nests, but bumblebee queens are much less promiscuous! While a honeybee queen may mate with as many as 40 males, the bumblebee queen typically mates only with one. After she has mated, the new queen must feed heavily on nectar to prepare herself for hibernation.
She hibernates underground and if she survives, she will emerge in spring to start her own colony. Bumblebee queens must start their colonies from scratch.
The duties of establishing a nest fall to the queen alone. She begins by seeking out a suitable nesting site. Most bumblebee species nest underground in old rodent dens, but some will occupy cavities in bird houses or wood piles.
Once in her nest, the queen lays her first round of eggs. These eggs will hatch into worker bees who will aid her in foraging and brood rearing. Once she has a big enough workforce, the queen bumblebee retires from forging altogether and performs only the vital task of egg-laying. As the population of worker bees grows, the queen is able to lay more and more eggs, which will hatch into more worker bees.
The body size of worker bees varies dramatically and is determined by how much food they are fed during development.
One worker might be ten times bigger than another! Larger workers perform most of the foraging, for example, while smaller bees seem to stay in the nest. These bulky workers are able to collect more food, fly in cooler temperatures, and evade more predators than their petite sisters.
At this point, you might be wondering if bumble bees make honey. The answer is, no, but they do collect and store nectar. They build a kind of pot to hold the nectar they gather. This stored food enables new queens to stay in their nests and care for their first batch of young without going hungry.
The reason this stored nectar is not considered honey is because its not dehydrated. Bumblebees are excellent pollinators—much more efficient pollinators than honeybees, in fact.
They mainly forage for pollen rather than nectar, and transfer more pollen to the pistils of the flowers with each visit. Many crops are well suited to natural pollination by bumblebees, including cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, seed crops, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, melons, and squash. They are especially attracted to tube-shaped flowers. Female worker bees do the collecting of nectar and pollen.
Crops such as tomatoes, peppers, berries, and cranberries bear better fruits if they are buzz pollinated. Bumblebees have to work harder than ever to find food and shelter due to habitat loss and the overuse of pesticides.
To attract bumblebees and other native bee species, consider native plants —such as asters, coneflowers Echinacea spp. However, bumblebees are not fussy; anything that produces nectar and pollen works for them! If you plant even a small area or a few containers with flowering plants, the bees will find them. Plan your garden to have a long season of bloom. Unfortunately, this ability also makes them more vulnerable to agricultural pesticides and herbicides, which are usually sprayed in early morning and later in the day to avoid harming the honeybees that are active during the middle of the day.
There are about 45 species of bumblebees Bombus in the United States alone. These large bees are round and fuzzy with short, stubby wings. You have to wonder how these big round bees fly so well. A recent study showed how the tiny wings keep the bees aloft: Bumblebees flap their wings back and forth rather than up and down. Yes, but not enough to be a source for human consumption.
Bumblebees make a small amount of honey, just enough to tide them over a few days of bad weather. Early-blooming trees and shrubs, like fruit trees, pussy willows, and serviceberry, are especially necessary to give the newly emerging queens some nourishment as they wake up and start their new colonies. The whole hive dies off in late fall, leaving just new, mated queens to start new colonies in the spring.
If even one new queen dies, a whole potential colony will be lost. Bumblebees rarely string, though they are able. They are generally very docile. They do not form swarms like other communal bees and they only sting when truly provoked.
Only female bumble bees have stingers. But they are so good-natured that getting a female to sting you is a major undertaking. According to BumbleBee. They will really only become aggressive if you are bothering their nest.
Bumbles can sting more than once, however, their sting lacks barbs and a stinger is not left behind. Colonies may contain between 50 and individuals, according to the National Wildlife Federation, whereas honeybee hives may have 50,! Bumblebees have small nests, between the size of a baseball and a softball.
Unlike a honeybee hive, bumblebees usually nest close to the ground or even underground, in stone walls, under clumps of grass, or in hollow trees and stumps. Abandoned mouse holes are a favorite since they come complete with a warm fur lining.
Bumbles stay close to home. After foraging at various flowers, they carry their collected pollen and nectar back to the nest to feed. Unlike honeybees, the bumblebee colony dies in late fall. The queen who rules the colony is the only member of a bumblebee colony to survive the winter!
She hibernates during the winter months underground and starts a new colony in the spring. Yes, of course! Male bees will also sleep outside, after they leave the nest never to return.
Last year, the rusty patched bumblebee Bombus affinis was the first bee listed as an endangered species in the continental U. According to the Dept. If you notice a lack of bees in your yard, consider whether your neighborhood uses a lot of pesticides in their lawns and gardens.
You may have your answer! At minimum, try to eliminate pesticides from your garden. A group of insecticides called neonicotinoids have been shown to have a devastating effect on all types of bees. It is a systemic insecticide that can come from pre-treated seeds or sprays applied to bedding plants. The chemical is present in every part of the treated plant—flowers, stems, leaves, etc. Buy organic whenever possible or ask your local nursery to make sure that no systemics were used on the plants you are purchasing.
To provide nesting sites, leave some part of your yard a little wild and brushy. See our video showing easy ways to attract bees to the garden for more flowers and food! Im in central Massachusetts, and its mid October. Today I found a queen bumble clinging onto a cosmos flower in my garden. She seemed dead. Is this alarming? I thought they hibernate.
I picked the flower and brought her and it inside, in case it was the chill that was gibing her trouble. The neighbors just had someone here spraying for mosquitoes, so I was concerned she might be affected by whatever they were spraying. Now she is miving a little. Ill keep her safely inside tonight no heat ison yet and take her back to the garden tomorrow garden if she seems fine.
What do you think is likely her problem? I found a worker bumble in similar state a few weeks ago, brought him in and he never revived. That fits with your article. Bumbles will sleep out at night, are less bothered by cool temps.
However, if the weather drops a lot in the nighttime, any bee that ventures out could die during the night. Way back in the past bumble bees used to be called humble bees. There are 2 schools of thought suggesting that it was from the noise they made and the other that, because they nest in mouse holes etc. Years ago I had a rabbitry. What I didn't know that inbetween the wall and the insulation was a bumblebee next. I think the weight of the nest pulled the insulation loose.
It happens quickly and they are fun to watch. Best, it eliminates the shipping and disease transmission that goes with it. Another disease that has spread from shipping commercial stock is chalk brood in leafcutting bees.
I have bumble bees! The older nest is located on the outside of my house but at the bottom of my entry. I live in Iowa so winter temps can get as low as One is low on the ground where I often water plants. Anyhow, thank you for all of the wonderful information. I have lots of flowers in my yard for them. They are thick on my rhododendron tree.
Thanks again! Is honey produced by the European honey bee the same as produced by bubble bees? Can it be used to enhance the survival of bubble bee populations? Most of your questions are answered here: Insects that feed us. Yesterday I was stung on the lip and then on the ear by a using my super taxonomic skills definitelynotahoneybee.
I wanted to claim it was a yellowjacket because bumble bees are so nonaggressive and yellowjackets sting multiple times. But I definitely felt soft fuzz on my lip before the sting. Only a real jerk could get a bumble bee to sting her, and here I am. The stings were more painful than honey bees, but after the pill the pain went away quickly.
I know a guy who used plow fields as a teenager, and he was scared to death of plowing over a bumble bee nest because they would go after him and it was bad. I read to provide it at least the first year. My other question besides whether I need to check inside or not is when do I add more boxes supers? Yes, you should be doing regular hive inspections to check on the brood nest and food storage in addition to looking for diseases and pest problems.
You need to learn what normal looks like so you can recognize when something is wrong. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Where do bumble bees go in winter? Do bumble bees live in hives?
Do bumble bees swarm? How long does a bumble bee live? What does a bumble bee eat? Do bumble bees sting? How do you collect their honey? Are bumble bees endangered? Do bumble bees get colony collapse disorder? Do bumble bees get Varroa mites? I found a bumble bee that cannot fly. What should I do? How can I help bumble bees? Now you are ready Okay, beekeepers, now you are ready to go forth and answer questions about bumble bees.
How to hide a beehive. How the honey bee uses invertase. You may also like. First class as always. So much information in such a small space. Great job Rusty! Bumble bees are the cutest things, they are like the teddy bears of the bee world.
I wonder if their predisposition to use their stinger varies a lot between species. Very beautiful picture of a bumblebee. With light brown pollen and two mites riding her back. Thanks for the post, Rusty Jan Olsson, Denmark. Ray, Sounds a lot like my place. Like you, I do whatever I can.
Nancy Northern Ky. Nancy, Great tip about red clover. I immediately put it on my to-do list! Went inside with no shirt on, lamenting the lack of interspecies cooperation. Michael, All that furry cuteness can be deceptive.
Good story. Thanks Rusty. Glen, I have a question. Hello Rusty, Thank you for the informative article. Greetings, Diego. Thank you, Brenda. Kathleen, One of the reason for decline of bumble bee populations is spread of disease Nosema bombi from commercially-raised bumble bees that escaped into the wild.
Thank you. Dan, Most of your questions are answered here: Insects that feed us. Love your posts and answers. Suzann, Yes, you should be doing regular hive inspections to check on the brood nest and food storage in addition to looking for diseases and pest problems. Loading Comments Email Required Name Required Website.
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