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Sleepy bees

JacquimcmahonJacquimcmahon Posts: 979
in Wildlife gardening
Went out this morning to a damp and cooler terrace…. The bees are having a “lie in” inside the dahlias this morning, took photos of 4 but there were loads more, all in the dahlias!
Marne la vallée, basically just outside Paris 🇫🇷, but definitely Scottish at heart.

Posts

  • FireFire Posts: 18,054
    B&B
  • philippasmith2philippasmith2 Posts: 3,490
    Hung over ?
  • JacquimcmahonJacquimcmahon Posts: 979
    I promise I’m not encouraging doped up bees. It was the same again this morning. I think the are not appreciating the sudden morning temperature drop. 
    Marne la vallée, basically just outside Paris 🇫🇷, but definitely Scottish at heart.
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,166
    Fire said:
    B&B
    I feel like this is a very underappreciated joke.
    It's hard to tell from the photos but I wonder if they're all male bees? No nest to go back to so they just have to chill out somewhere when they can't feed or hunt for females.

    Tradition is just peer pressure from dead people
  • JacquimcmahonJacquimcmahon Posts: 979
    How do you sex a bee?
    Marne la vallée, basically just outside Paris 🇫🇷, but definitely Scottish at heart.
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,166
    Jacquimcmahon said:
    How do you sex a bee?
    The easiest way is to count the antennae segments, males have 13 and females have 12. If you can't get close enough though you can sometimes tell just from the pattern or by looking at the rear legs because males don't have legs adapted for storing pollen. None of the ones in your photos seem to have pollen on the rear legs so that's a good sign they might be male. Cuckoo bees also don't store pollen though so that can mislead you a bit.

    Tradition is just peer pressure from dead people
  • CrazybeeladyCrazybeelady Posts: 768
    Jacquimcmahon said:
    How do you sex a bee?
    Take it out for a couple of drinks  :D 
    Sorry 😆
  • JacquimcmahonJacquimcmahon Posts: 979
    Thanks wild edges I’ll have to give it a try…. On the other hand crazybeelady’s suggested course of action may prove a lot more challenging!🤪
    Marne la vallée, basically just outside Paris 🇫🇷, but definitely Scottish at heart.
  • Simone_in_WiltshireSimone_in_Wiltshire Posts: 988
    I was digging up soil where the marrow is/was to bury the plant into the ground. I had made the are a bit wider after finding some rubbish that was buried decades ago.
    To my surprise, there was a sleeping bumblebee which I dug out. The bee was not amused that I woke her/him up. I tried to recreate it again, and it didn't take long and the bee went to "bed" again.


    I ♥ my garden.

  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,166
    I once found a hibernating queen buried in a bag of compost in the greenhouse. She was not pleased about being woken up early either. It made me wonder where else they dig in for the winter and how they cope with the cold and wet.
    Tradition is just peer pressure from dead people
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