You’ve been seeing very large #bumblebees on the wing for the past while.
Why?
Okay I’ll tell you why in this quick thread if you promise to #repost as the more people who know that these are queens the more likely that someone will help some out meaning more colonies next year.
Deal?
1/15
#bees #nature #environment
#insects #biodiversity #science
#wildlife #autumn #education
And every colony counts!
Spoiler alert:
The big #bumblebees around in Autumn are new queens.
They’re feeding up before hibernating.
It’s vital they have access to forage.
If you find one trapped in a poly tunnel/in your house let her out quickly - every queen that survives is…
2/15
…a potential colony that gets to exist.
So back in early spring queen #bumblebees emerged from hibernation and you would have noticed these big girls flying around looking for food and a suitable nest site. These large bumblebees were followed a few weeks later by smaller…
3/15
….female workers out foraging with packed pollen baskets and each subsequent brood likely getting bigger in size.
Then the males appeared - the flower sleepers - often with slightly different colouration and yellow hairs on their faces.
Now in late summer/autumn we have a…
4/15
#bees
…new batch of queens out and about - the big #bumblebees you’ll have noticed lately.
These big girls will have been fed differently to female workers as they developed in the nest - queens, as with males, need more food and for longer periods when developing as larvae.
5/15
#nature
After emerging they continue to live in the nest although as ‘royalty’ they do not contribute to the functioning of the nest. They forage only for themselves to build up the fat reserves required to see them through their hibernation over the winter.
These queens will…
6/15
#worldbeesanctuary
…however eventually disperse far from their birth nest to avoid inbreeding. The queens mate, usually for most species with only one male, and they store the semen ‘collected’ in their bodies until needed the following year. Research suggests that, for some species at least,
7/15
#bees
…the ‘choice’ of mate can be way important as queens mating with non-virgin males seem more successful at founding a colony and then produce more workers and male offspring than queens who settle for a virgin male!
When choosing a place to hibernate they will favour…
8/15
#hibernation #winter #bees
…north facing slopes.
Why I near you ask?
More sheltered from the sun and later to heat up in spring, north facing hibernation sites help prevent queens from emerging too early, I hear me answer.
These queens avoid freezing whilst in hibernation due to glycerol in their…
9/15
#bumblebees
…plants available.
Queens being so crucial to the establishment/survival of a colony tend to forage more cautiously than their female worker sisters - however whilst out foraging these queens may get trapped in growing tunnels, glasshouses, and indeed in your home at windows.
12/15
#windows #bees #greenhouse #help
Please be vigilant.
Help them out as quickly as possible as if they get exhausted and perish that is a potential colony that will not get to exist next year.
Time trapped is time not foraging and energy wasted!
So now you know what these big autumn-flying #bumblebees are!
13/15
One ‘correction’ for the pedantic among you.
Technically a QUEEN is not a queen at this stage but rather a GYNE - a female capable of becoming a reproductive queen.
On starting a nest she becomes a FOUNDRESS.
Only when her offspring hatch does she become a bona fide queen!
15/15
#bees
End Scene and Credits.
No AI.
Starring: Bumblebees
Written by: The Bee Guy
Camera: The Bee Guy
Directed by: The Bee Guy
Produced by: The Bee Guy
Shot on location at World Bee Sanctuary.
**No bees were hurt in the filming of this thread.
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Oct 4, 2026, 1:53 PMGracias. Lo pongo por aquí 😊
https://tardigram.com/m/MedioAmbiente/t/83585/Los-abejorros-grandes-que-se-ven-en-otono-son-reinas
@thebeeguy thank you for this great information! These bees photos were taken in my garden.
@thebeeguy This was super interesting. Our Rose of Sharon is absolutely covered with bumblebees this time of year. We've always left tidying up our garden beds until late spring so all of the critters have places to overwinter. I’ll make an extra effort to not disturb the north facing beds.
Thank you for the Bumblebee lesson!
@thebeeguy Yaaas Queen!
@thebeeguy Great thread. I have seen big girls in my garden in spring, and was careful to not disturb the nests. I have seen males sleeping on my sunflowers (did not realize they were male, ty) and left them snoozing. Seeing lots of big girls around now on the asters, I'm refusing to mow my lawn anymore no matter how my neighbor complains, and will not be cleaning up leaf litter. So you have managed to save at least one yard full of bumblebees with your posts.
@thebeeguy
I keep a glass jar or a transparent drinks cup near any potential trouble spots like that. If shooing them out doesn't work, I try to trap them in a jar and quickly move the mouth of the jar so they can fly out to freedom.
Flying insects depend on natural light (sun, moon, stars) for navigation and stable flight, so if there's a regular trap area in a polytunnel, shading just that spot from the sun might help.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11055-024-01742-3
https://biologyinsights.com/what-lights-attract-bugs-and-the-science-behind-why/
@thebeeguy we stan a queen who:
👸
Wow, this is all so interesting, and to know they actually avoid inbreeding 🧡
@thebeeguy If I see bees sleeping on flowers, these are males?
What do the males contribute? Other than some being lucky to mate with the queens. And do female workers also breed?
@CStamp
I'm not @thebeeguy and he can correct me, but I believe it depends on the species, some species a worker can take over queening, but for some losing the queen is fatal to the nest.
@thebeeguy
Done! (Boosted).
@thebeeguy I have been only very occasionally mowing this year, and have been rewarded with a HUGE amount of Asters blooming, which are COVERED in big ol' bumbles 😍
@thebeeguy Boosted for everyone who _has_ seen these elusive queens... But I haven't seen a single bumble bee all summer.
@thebeeguy I have had two big girls fly through the wide open door and into my backyard office this week, but they got themselves out pretty quickly. I didn't even have to show them where the exit was. Thanks for the info!
@thebeeguy Thank you very much! Now I know a future queen visits the flowers of my bonsai everyday 🥰
