In the hot summer months, the image of weakened bees searching in vain for food on the ground can arouse pity in nature lovers. They try to help the insects and often forget that well-intentioned measures bring dangers.
How can you nurture a weakened bee?
To boost a weakened bee, you should not offer it a honey solution as this can spread disease. Instead, you can provide the bee with a sugar water solution to increase its energy. Pure water in a shallow bowl is also helpful in summer.
Don’t feed honey
Supplementing weakened bees with honey causes more harm than good. Around 75 percent of the honey offered in Germany comes from distant areas. According to studies, the American foulbrood pathogen was found in around a quarter of all imported products. The spores are harmless to humans.
Pathogens
The bacterium Paenibacillus larvae is responsible for this notifiable animal disease. It is long-lasting, resistant and remains infectious for an almost unlimited period of time. If a weak bee ingests the spores in the honey and then flies back into the hive, it can trigger a pandemic.
Illness progression
The adult insects do not become infected themselves. The pathogen spores contaminate the brood via the larval food. The larvae die and decompose into a black mass that forms strings and eventually dries up. Up to 2.5 billion new spores can be created in this mass. If a collapsing bee colony is robbed by other bees, the pathogens continue to spread.
Alternative options
Individual found animals can collect new energy by administering a sugar water solution. However, permanently offering bowls of sweetened water on the balcony proves to be disadvantageous. The danger is that the honey quality in the beehives deteriorates.
How to help bees sustainably:
- create a meadow rich in herbs
- plant native hedges and shrubs
- Design wild shrub borders with species-rich plants
- Pile up piles of dead wood
Put flowering plants with different blooming times in your garden. In this way, the insects find sufficient nectar and pollen at any time of the year. Small paradises can also be built on the balcony in tubs and pots.
Tip
In the hot summer, offer the animals pure water in a shallow bowl.
When sugar solutions help
A weak bee can be saved if only it lacks energy. Sick animals and animals that have been rejected from the hive have no chance of survival. The relief measure is just as unnecessary for specimens that are at the end of their 35 day lifespan.
