Help! I have a poorly Bee in my house!

[Pumpkin83]

At least it seems to be poorly! It was found a couple of days ago clinging onto a net curtain and today I found it on the floor. I have tried giving it sugar/water and water/honey but its not interested and is just crawling around at the moment!

We only have a very light sprinkling of snow but obviously its very cold. I have no idea what to do with this Bee! Is it supposed to be hibernating? Please advise!!

[Jason Green]

Evening Pumpkin, and welcome to WAB!

Your bee is most likely a queen Buff-tailed Bumblebee, Bombus terrestris. It will have entered your home to hibernate through the cold months. Have you recently had a sudden spell of mild weather, turned up the heating or disturbed the curtains? If so, it's woken up and will need to return to hibernating.

The usual advice is to take it to a shed, garage or even a bush and soon it'll realise it isn't spring and subsequently sleep again.

If it seems unwell it'll be 'groggy', having just woken up after a fair length of time. This is your best time to take it to a shed or similar - before it wakes up, goes out into the cold and struggles to find a suitable site on it's own when it realises how low the temperatures actually are!

Take care,

Jason

[Paul mabbott]

Hello; the big question is what sort of bee? Any chance of a photo? How large is it? If it's a worker/drone bee of various kinds then it is probably just ending its natural term - if, for instance, it's a bumble bee then only the queen might expect to survive the winter.
Its crawling around might be an attempt to find a cool (not cold, not wet) place to hibernate?
Best wishes, let us know what happens!

[Jason Green]

There are two that are likely to be found at this time of year - the Early Bumblebee Bombus pratorum and the Buff-tailed Bumblebee, Bombus terrestris Paul.

I suspect it's the latter as in my own experience and seeing it often on here - it tends to be the Buff one

[Pumpkin83]

Hi everyone,

Thanks so much for your replies. In the end we put him in our shed so fingers crossed he will survive the cold and winter!

I had a look on google images and i actually think he was an early bumblebee as he didnt have the white 'buff' that the bufftailed one has...

Anyway I hope he's ok, i feel better in the knowledge that Iv done all i could - thank you again for your replies

[JRsbugs]

Bombus pratorum is a very small bumble compared to B. terrestris, and the tail of many B. terrestris, most likely a queen native variety has an orange tail.

They usually bury themselves under moss or similar cover on the ground, make sure it has an escape route for when it wants to leave your shed.

Janet