Bees don't have one single "favorite" fruit, but they are attracted to the nectar and pollen from the flowers of many fruits like apples, blueberries, strawberries, peaches, plums, and melons; ripe or overripe fruits like grapes, figs, and pears also provide sweet, easy-to-access food. They love the sweet fragrance and sugar in many ripe fruits, but their primary food comes from flower blossoms, making fruit trees and berry bushes excellent for pollinators.
Honey bees, especially in a nectar dearth, find ripe fruit very much to their liking. They have been known to feast on plums, peaches, grapes, apples, figs, and pears.
Bee Friendly Fruit And Vegetable Plants
Pollen, a powdery dust-like substance, is produced by various flowering plants. Pollen is one of the purest and richest natural foods, containing all of the nutritional requirements of a honey bee: sugar, carbohydrates, protein, enzymes, vitamins and minerals. Nectar is a sweet fluid found in flowers.
The 7 best flowers to plant for bees
Varroa Mites are the #1 enemy of honey bee and beekeepers around the world. These external parasites feed on the blood of adult honey bees, and reproduce on honey bee pupae. They can considerably weaken individual bees, and often vector viruses and other pathogens between bees.
Regardless of colony size, feeding dry sugar works best during autumn and spring when humidity is relatively high. Hot, dry summers make it hard for bees to dissolve sugar crystals into liquid. A colony at starvation level should be fed sugar syrup first before dry sugar is given.
Multiple Stings
Depending on the number of stings, the person may just hurt a lot, feel a little sick, or feel very sick. Humans can be killed if stung enough times in a single incident. With honey bees the toxic dose (LD50) of the venom is estimated to be 8.6 stings per pound of body weight.
Help the bees: During the fall months, grate an apple, place it in a bowl or flat plate, and add water. Bees can get sugars from the fruit, drink the water, and not drown because they can stand on the fruit pieces. Our bee populations are threatened; let's support them as much as possible.
The "3 feet, 3 miles rule" is a beekeeping guideline for moving hives: move them less than 3 feet (so they find the new spot easily using landmarks and scent) or more than 3 miles (so they're forced to reorient to a completely new landscape). Moving them an intermediate distance (e.g., 50 feet to 2 miles) confuses forager bees, causing them to return to the old, empty location and get lost.
Attract Bees, Butterflies, and Other Pollinators to Your Yard with These Expert Tips
We highly recommend the use of lemon grass oil as the best bee lure. It mimics the pheromone that scout bees release when looking for a new home and should double your chances of luring a swarm to a hive or trap.
1) PLEASE DO NOT PUT OUT SUGAR, SUGAR SYRUP, OR HONEY TO FEED THE BEES. Especially in urban areas, open feeding bees can spread diseases and encourage fighting. Additionally, not all sugars are processed by bees, some can even cause dysentery.
And in the bees' brains, the memories stuck: The insects could pick out the target face even two days after being trained. Dyer says the results challenge the idea that a specialized part of the brain is necessary to recognize a human face.
Bees dislike strong, pungent scents like peppermint, citronella, garlic, cinnamon, and clove, which overwhelm their sensitive noses, along with smoky smells and some essential oils (tea tree, eucalyptus). They are particularly put off by the strong odors of these herbs and spices, using them as deterrents for patios, windows, and garden areas to encourage bees to move elsewhere.
1. Asian Giant Hornet (Vespa mandarinia) Known as the "murder hornet," the Asian giant hornet is infamous for its incredibly painful sting and the fact that it can be deadly.
Audio Abstract (AA): Can bees recognize faces? Tarpy: Yes, bees can recognize and differentiate between human faces, so they can recognize their beekeepers over somebody else. There was this really interesting and splashy study that was done by researchers at Cambridge in 2004.
The 7/10 rule in beekeeping is a guideline for when to add a new box (super) to a hive, suggesting you add it when bees have built comb, brood, or stored honey on 7 out of 10 frames in the current box, indicating they need more space and preventing congestion, which can lead to swarming. This proactive expansion supports the colony's growth, reduces stress, and maintains natural hive behavior, but it's also important to consider factors like time of year and overall hive health, not just frame count.
No, modern, ethical bee venom harvesting does not harm bees because it uses mild electric currents to make them sting a glass plate, allowing venom release without the stinger detaching (unlike stinging a tough surface like skin), so the bees survive unharmed and can return to normal hive activity. Older methods, like forcing bees to sting rubber or crushing them, were fatal, but current techniques focus on cruelty-free collection for medicine and skincare.
While bees may seem aggressive, their behavior is rooted in defensiveness and a desire to protect their home and resources. After you sort out the cause of the behavior, these tips can help you reset your bees' behavior.
Africanised bees are notorious in the Americas for their aggressive behaviour, but these fierce little pollinators may be the answer to declining honeybee numbers. Their demeanour has earned them the terrifying nickname of 'killer bees', but relatively few deaths are caused in proportion to the number of colonies.
Do not try to fight the bees they have the advantage of numbers and the gift of flight. The more you flail your arms, the madder they will get. Just run indoors as fast as possible. A bee can obtain speeds of from 12 to 15 miles per hour, but most healthy humans can outrun them.