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6 days ago, outside on my deck, where I eat my meals, a bee fell into my grapefruit juice. I used a fork to retrieve it, laid it on a napkin and tried to dry it off. And after 5 minutes or so, he flew over to the leftover juice from my watermelon bowl, where another bee was sipping away. And before long, other bees joined in.
The next 5 days I've been putting a small plate of watermelon, about 10 feet away from my desk, and about 15 bees have been munching away on the watermelon.
So far they've been very respectful and well-behaved. Sometimes a few of them will fly around where I sit at a desk, but I shoo them away, but they don't get angry. For all I know they may be trying to thank me for the watermelon.
I would like to pet one of them, but I might be asking for trouble.
I recently bought a book all about Bees and I'm going to start reading it.
Trying to pet animals that don't naturally use physical touch as a way to demonstrate affection usually doesn't work out too well. Yes, bees are social creatures, impressively so, but anthropomorphizing them or trying to attribute human social behavior to them isn't fair or respectful. Attracting bees to your place may not sit well with your neighbors either. They might see your bees as a hazardous nuisance and do what it takes to get rid of them. All you could end up doing is killing the very creatures you say you like.
Keeping as a pet, maybe not. More of a hobby than keeping a pet.
Touching probably is not a good idea, but you could let them land on you and walk around. Honey bees tend to be gentle creatures as long as you don't frighten them or hurt them.
I wonder where the bees go to in winter? Yes, we have a winter here in Tucson, temps can fall at night to the mid to high 20's in January.
Where do they hide for the winter or do they just die off? So curious!
I've become enchanted with them. I watch them crawl into my leftover Strawberry dish, with the juice and sugar, and I'm fascinated watching them go into the bowl and crawl out, fly away and return later. I never thought bees would fascinate me like this, and I've become so attached to them and protective.
My only concern is they may get too used to getting fed by humans and become dependent, moving away from their other sources of nutrients.
Someone may very well have a hive in the area and be keeping bees. We lived in the Tucson area, in Marana, and I saw bees come in, there were SO many that stayed clustered on a cactus in the back of our area. They stayed for about 3 days, and then left. I had walked by them a few times without thinking about it, but they didn't bother me. We are in central KS now, and honey bees frequent our yard. They come for water from the bird bath like many other critters looking for water, as we have drought conditions most of the time, and we also have flowers that bloom in some sort of order where about 6 months of the year we have a few of something in bloom. At the times there is nothing blooming, I guess they simply go somewhere else. I am sure they get used to an area, and what might be offered. I think they cover quite a large territory. I wouldn't worry so much about feeding them, and they may just be passing through if they are not owned by a beekeeper somewhere in the area. Many people in Marana were actually growing flowers and some gardens with food items.
I don't think they are very picky about what they consume. In SE KS, someone had a hive in town, and they were hogging down the sugar water from our hummingbird feeder. Sadly, some of the neighbors were killing them, but that was when they had the hype about Africanized bees.
As a kid, I got one caught in my sandal, and it was not a good experience, so I keep a distance.
I wonder where the bees go to in winter? Yes, we have a winter here in Tucson, temps can fall at night to the mid to high 20's in January.
Where do they hide for the winter or do they just die off? So curious!
I've become enchanted with them. I watch them crawl into my leftover Strawberry dish, with the juice and sugar, and I'm fascinated watching them go into the bowl and crawl out, fly away and return later. I never thought bees would fascinate me like this, and I've become so attached to them and protective.
Thanks for the upload, very interesting! I'll be starting to read my Bee book tomorrow. So it's possible they will survive thru the winter. I'll be putting out some honey for those dear creatures.
You should check with your local Ag Extension office on the appropriate food for colder months. I know they need honey, but I think that is honey in the raw- not processed. Not 100% sure, but I'd check for sure.
I think a bee is just too small for you to stroke it like a cat, and as mentioned, you would probably be scaring the Hell out of the bee, they don't stroke each other, just not something they do.
If you want to feed them, I'm pretty sure you are not hurting anything.
If you wanted to have a hive or two, if you have the room, it can be a good hobby and of course you would have honey for yourself and maybe to sell to friends. Or you could set it up as an actual business, if you want to go that far.
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