Found a bee on the ground that seems too exhausted to fly? Here’s all you need to know about how to revive tired bees. And because our understanding of bees is constantly developing, this advice has been revised for 2026.
Our poor bees are in decline. Pressures such as habitat loss, intensive farming, pesticide use, climate change and pollution continue to affect many bee species. While some populations are stable, others remain in serious decline, which means creating safer environments for them still really matters.
If you’ve found a bee on the ground in your home or garden that’s tired or struggling, or looks like it’s dying, then you’ll probably want to help.
The good news is that the chances are the bee isn’t dying, it’s just tired. Most tired bees don’t actually need help – they just need a little rest.
But if the bee does need help, then the good news is that you can actually revive these bees quickly and easily using only sugar and water. Think of it as some very basic emergency “thirst aid” for bees, used only as a last resort.
So let me first show you how to work out if your grounded bee actually does need assistance. And, once you’ve established that your bee is in trouble, I’ll show you how to revive these tired bees. I’ll also show you some dos and don’ts for helping bees because our goal is to help, not harm them.
You can use the quick links below to skip to the section you need; however, I highly recommend reading every section so you don’t intentionally harm our fuzzy friends:
How To Tell If A Bee Needs Reviving
First off, you need to decide whether the bee is actually in trouble or if it is just resting.
In early spring, the grounded bees people most often find are newly emerged queen bumblebees. These queens are busy establishing nests and foraging alone, resting between flights to conserve energy.
In 2019, researchers at Queen Mary University of London found that bumblebee queens actually spend a large proportion of their time resting on the ground.
In fact, the researchers found that bees rest for around 30 minutes on average. Occasionally, they can rest for as much as 45 minutes. So we can safely say that rest is a big part of the bumblebee life cycle, particularly in early Spring.
This means that if you do find a bee on the ground for an extended period, then in most cases, there is nothing wrong with the bee. It simply needs a little rest. I don’t know about you, but I can definitely relate to the bees!
Bumblebee queens normally rest in long grass and leaf litter. Here, they can safely hide from predators in peace. However, due to our love of mowed lawns, tidy gardens, and urban expansion, it does get harder for bees to find such sheltered hiding spots. That’s why you’ll often find them on pavements and paths.
The First Step To Take
If you find a tired bee in your garden, you can just leave it be. It should eventually fly off once it is fully rested.
If you find a bee in your home on a windowsill or similar, and it looks too tired to fly, very carefully scoop it up on a thin piece of cardboard and put it outside on a plant.
And if you find a bee resting on the road, on the pavement, or in another busy area, then the best thing you can do is to move it so it doesn’t get squashed. When it is safe to do so, gently move it into some grass or leaves, or onto a nearby bee-friendly flower. Failing that, a more sheltered location out of harm’s way would be sufficient.
If after 45 minutes, the bee is still on the ground, then it may be genuinely exhausted. The best thing to do at this point is, if you can, to pop the bee onto a bee-friendly flower to give it time to build strength safely.
If you can’t find a flower, it is only at this point that you should intervene by offering an energy boost to the tired bee. The key principle is observe first, intervene last. In most cases, time and a safe spot are all that’s needed.
How To Revive A Tired Bee
If you’ve tried all of the above and nothing has worked, then only then should you provide intervention.
Thankfully, it is pretty easy to revive tired and exhausted bees. A simple sugar-water solution can provide a short-term energy boost, as long as the appropriate time has passed.
To create this energy drink to revive tired bees, the RSPB says we should mix two tablespoons of white granulated sugar with one tablespoon of water. It should be quite a thick mix. Then place the sugar/water mix on a spoon. Do not add any more water; otherwise, the bee could drown.
Next, place the spoon next to the bee, where it may have a little drink. Alternatively, you can place a small drop of the thick solution beside the bee. Try not to move the bee closer to the spoon or solution, to reduce handling and keep stress to a minimum.
Once done drinking, the bee will either fly off or gather energy to fly away. If it doesn’t fly away immediately, pop the bee onto a bee-friendly flower, or in some grass, or leaves until it is ready to fly. If you can’t find any foliage, put it in a sheltered spot until it is ready.
Important Dos & Don’ts For Feeding Bees
There are some dos and don’ts for reviving tired bees that you should always follow.
Never Offer Honey
Firstly, don’t be tempted to offer tired bees any honey. In most cases, honey isn’t suitable for bees. This is because a lot of honey is imported and may not always be right for native British bees.
Honey from other hives can also spread fatal diseases, such as Foulbrood, amongst bee populations. As such, always stick to sugar.
Only Offer White Granulated Sugar To Tired Bees
Secondly, only ever offer white granulated sugar when you need to revive a bee. Never offer any other type of sugar. That includes brown sugar and demerara sugar.
These types of sugars are too hard for the bee to digest and could cause harm. You should also never offer any artificial or diet sweeteners, as these could also be harmful to bees.
If you don’t have any white granulated sugar to hand, then the best and safest option is to offer nothing at all.
Don’t Leave Sugar Water In Your Garden
And thirdly, and very importantly, do not leave any sugar-water solution sitting out in your garden for bees to drink from at their leisure.
Whilst you can make a bee drinking station for your garden, this should only be filled with plain water. Artificial feeding stations can increase disease transmission between bees and may disrupt natural foraging behaviour. Bees filling up on sugar water are not pollinating wild plants, which has knock-on effects for the wider ecosystem.
Instead, use this sugar-water technique only in an emergency when a tired bee is clearly in need of reviving. Think of it as bee CPR. After all, you wouldn’t use CPR on someone who was just having a nap – so don’t offer sugar water if a bee has just been resting for a short period of time.
If you want to help the bees in your garden all year round, it’s much better to plant some bee-friendly flowers than put out a bowl of sugar water.
What To Do With Bees That Don’t Respond To Sugar Water?
I often get emails from readers telling me that they have found a tired or wet bee that isn’t responding to sugar water, or that the bee is covered in mites, and they are wondering what to do.
I know it’s not what you want to hear, but you should do nothing. It’s vital that you leave the bee outside. As tempting as it is to bring the bee indoors to the warmth or put it in a cosy box, it is better for the bee to be left outside.
There’s good reason for this. According to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, indoor heat can disrupt the natural body rhythms of bumblebees. Warmer temperatures increase a bee’s metabolic rate, causing it to burn through precious energy reserves more quickly – which can leave it even weaker.
The Trust also warns that they may already have a nest, and if the adult bumblebee doesn’t return to it, the eggs and larvae could die.
Bumblebees are also well adapted to deal with the cold and wet. They have thick hair to protect them against the cold, and their body fluid acts in a similar way to antifreeze. So the best thing to do is to leave them outside – preferably on a flower – to recuperate. They should then fly off to their nest when they are ready.
What To Do If A Bee Has Visible Mites
Another question I get asked if what to do if a bee has mites on it.
If you do see any mites on the bee, these are more often than not harmless, so don’t try to remove them. While some mites are parasitic, many visible red mites are phoretic – meaning they simply hitch a ride and do not directly harm the bee. Attempting to remove them can stress or injure the bee unnecessarily, and upset this natural balance.
Why Bees Are Important
Bees play a vital role in maintaining both ecosystems and our food supply.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations says that “Close to 75% of the world’s crops producing fruits and seeds for human consumption depend, at least in part, on pollinators for sustained production, yield, and quality“.
That includes everyday foods like apples, strawberries, tomatoes, courgettes and almonds – not just wildflowers in meadows. Without pollinators, our diets would look very different.
Whilst being help tired bees is one aspect of helping them build their numbers, it’s important not to forget that the bigger, longer-term solution is providing them with suitable habitats.
After all, a spoonful of sugar might save one bee, whilst a wildlife-friendly garden helps thousands. Here are my top tips to help plant a bee-friendly garden that gives bees what they actually need. Or, if you don’t have a garden, here’s how you can help the bees in other ways.
Sign Up For The Moral Fibres Substack
Get all the latest articles from Moral Fibres straight to your inbox, once a month, free of charge through Substack. You can also upgrade to be a paid Substack subscriber, where you’ll receive an additional two exclusive articles a month. Sign up now:
