Once awakened from their winter nap, bumble bees look for food to restore their energy reserves and form their colonies. Their diet includes nectar and pollen which contain sugars and proteins for nourishment.
Bumble bees also drink water; they carry it back to their hives to dilute honey stores and may consume some as well.
Contents
Nectar
Bumblebees rely on nectar, the sugary liquid produced by flowers, for energy and to raise their young. Long tongues scoop up this nectar using their proboscis mouthparts – providing energy and sustenance.
Some flowers may be difficult for bees to reach due to their size or shape; for instance, foxgloves feature long tubes which require bees with long proboscises in order to reach the sweet nectar inside them. Bumblebees of all species serve as efficient pollinators in garden settings ranging from Indian balsam, phacalia, viper’s bugloss, geraniums and lupins to borage and various varieties of thyme plants in cottage gardens.
As queen bumblebees awake from their winter hibernation and begin laying eggs, they consume large quantities of nectar and pollen to provide protein for their developing brood. Nectar is also their main source of energy when flying; without it they cannot reproduce.
Pollen
Bumblebees collect pollen from flowers as a protein source for themselves and their developing brood. Bumblebees chew up pollen into powder before transporting it using their hind legs, according to Animal Diversity Web (ADW).
Bumble bees can only store about one week’s worth of honey in their bodies, which means they require flowers throughout the growing season to replenish their stores of nectar. Early-blooming plants such as fruit trees and shrubs, pussy willows and serviceberry are especially crucial; midsummer and latesummer blooming flowers should also provide support.
Bumblebees can often be seen collecting nectar and pollen from multiple plant species during foraging flights, which demonstrates their complex diet as well as the necessity of matching landscape phenology.
As soon as you spot a bumblebee lying down in your garden, providing sugar water is crucial if the bee needs help warming back up again. Sugar water may provide vitally needed relief.
Water
Bumblebees eat nectar produced by flowers using their long proboscis or mouthparts to access it in flower petal cells. Their sensitive senses enable them to detect levels of sugar present within nectar and they tend to prefer flowers with higher concentrations of nectar.
Bumble bees consume pollen for its protein-rich nutrition. To collect it on their hind legs in baskets and return it to their colonies as food for feeding their bee larvae.
Seeing a bumblebee crawl around on the ground, seemingly exhausted or unable to fly can be alarmingly saddening, so offering equal parts sugar and water on a teaspoon or an upturned drinks cap in an open area may provide it with much-needed energy boost. While honey might contain pathogens that pose health threats – as any beekeeper knows better! – it does contain pathogens – therefore do not offer store-bought honey as this would only harm them!
Beeswax
Bumblebees produce beeswax through glands on the underside of their abdomens. This wax is used to construct cells containing honey as well as build other items for their colony, as it contains many hydrocarbon compounds (free fatty acids and wax esters) with an aroma characteristic of honey.
Prior to winter, bumblebee colonies work to stockpile nectar and pollen supplies to help sustain them through months when foraging is impractical.
To aid bumblebee survival, the most effective strategy is to grow plenty of bee-friendly flowers between March and October – especially during their season from March-October. Also providing shallow puddles or dew on leaves as water sources is also recommended; but remember never to feed honey to bees since this is part of their natural diet! Sugar should only ever be provided as an emergency measure – in situations when suitable flower choices cannot be provided otherwise.
