# Is it possible to care for a carpenter bee?



## Lucidd (Apr 23, 2014)

I found a flightless carpenter bee in my yard yesterday. One of his wings is split into 3 slivers ... must have got caught in something. 
This bee appears otherwise perfectly healthy. 
I am wondering if anyone has experience with taking care of a wounded bee, or it is possible to do? And if they like wood, would it be wise to set him up in something wooden? 
I'd hate to just throw him back outdoors only to get helplessly picked up by a bird. Any help would be appreciated.  

Thanks

Reactions: Like 1


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## The Snark (Apr 23, 2014)

Something I would be happy to hear more on. You don't care for a bee, you care for the hive. As a general rule, bees, like ants, have no life without the hive.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## awiec (Apr 23, 2014)

Actually most carpenter bee's are solitary, there are some that form small semi social groups though. I would guess try to provide with flowers that it can get pollen or nectar from, some water to drink and most will use wood to make a nest. I am not sure how successful you will be in your endeavor but good luck.

Reactions: Like 3 | Agree 2


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## Le Wasp (Apr 23, 2014)

awiec said:


> Actually most carpenter bee's are solitary, there are some that form small semi social groups though. I would guess try to provide with flowers that it can get pollen or nectar from, some water to drink and most will use wood to make a nest. I am not sure how successful you will be in your endeavor but good luck.


Yup, carpenter bees are solitary (some nest near each other, but still build their own nests).  Honey is a pretty universal food source for hymenoptera (bees, ants, wasps), so if you give it access to honey and water, that should be all it needs.  They don't really need wood, but if it's a mated female, it might be interesting to give it a big enough piece of wood to watch her make a nest in it.  They like very old, untreated, and unpainted wood best.

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## Lucidd (Apr 23, 2014)

I have moved him from a tupperware container to a small wooden jewelry armoire with a glass door. I laid it horizontally so he has more space. I gave him 2 dandelions, a bottle cap of water and a bottle cap of honey. Hopefully he sticks around a while because when I opened my honey jar I found it infested with baby ants so it's now designated as his honey jar haha.
 On a side note, I checked in on him and it looks like he decided to fall asleep curled up on the stem of one of the dandelions. It was really cute to see his little antennae slowly moving up and down.

Thanks for all the info! It has been very helpful! I hope I can help this guy live a long healthy life!  

---------- Post added 04-23-2014 at 11:42 PM ----------

Oh and I'm pretty sure its a male because I don't see a stinger on it. When I first caught it it was throbbing its abdomen a lot and I thought it was trying to sting but I didn't see anything there to sting with.

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## Smokehound714 (Apr 24, 2014)

You should be giving it sugar water, and not honey.  


  If she's mated, you could actually get some adults, provided you supply enough sugar water.  Actually, i think I remember reading that bees are capable of eating just plain sugar.  (dont attempt that without reading about it first, im too lazy to open a new window and revise my memory lol)

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1 | Informative 1


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## Lucidd (Apr 24, 2014)

Just curious why is sugar water better for it than honey?


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## Lucidd (Apr 24, 2014)

I just took him outside to get some sunlight and gave him some new dandelions and he went right over to them. I snapped a few pics with my phone.

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## awiec (Apr 26, 2014)

Defiantly looks like Xylocopa virginica and its nice to hear its doing well.


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## Smokehound714 (Apr 26, 2014)

Lucidd said:


> Just curious why is sugar water better for it than honey?


Well, technically, sugar water alone is bad for them, too. Nectar contains alot of vitamins and good stuff.

  They also require pollen if you want them to breed.

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## Trailblazr80 (Apr 26, 2014)

Love those pics!

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## Lucidd (May 16, 2014)

I just wanted to update this and say, sadly, that the carpenter bee passed away. I was really looking forward to seeing this guy live a bit longer. Here are some images and videos I got to take of him before he lost his battle.
On a side note, I am finding half-dead bees and wasps in my yard and house on the regular. I am taking in every one I find and trying to nourish it back to health. This has only succeeded with a paper wasp which seemed flightless until I fed it some honey and water, then it was able to fly after a few days. I wonder if someone in the area is spraying some pretty harsh chemicals to be making all these little guys sick.       


[video=youtube_share;nNwmcCh98KQ]http://youtu.be/nNwmcCh98KQ[/video]


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## laurenkane (May 19, 2014)

<3 Rest in peace little sweetie. I really love how you are trying to help these overlooked creatures. Take care and post more of your endevour!


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## dementedlullaby (May 21, 2014)

Nice bee photos, sorry he didn't make it. Sucks that you're finding a bunch of dead ones, natures pollinators are taking a huge hit sadly. 

Awesome quality video you got there. Watching him scoop up the pollen was sweet.


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## JZC (May 21, 2014)

I used to hate bees, but now I fully recognize just how important they are to the ecosystem.


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## dementedlullaby (May 21, 2014)

Saw this video and thought of this post, it's pretty interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-TGT0Y22vQ


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## DawnDeschain (Mar 7, 2018)

I am so glad to have found this thread! I have a bunch of carpenter bees that live in front of my apartment door. They can be a little intimidating because they're all around when we're going in/out but they've never harmed any of us, I suspect they're the nonstinging males. Unfortunately I always find lots of them dying slow deaths and I'm not sure why, but it really breaks my heart. I found one the other day despite it being wintertime, and I've got him in a butterfly enclosure at home. He's pretty lethargic, I'm thinking he's still in "overwinter" mode and maybe fell out of his tunnel in the stairs. I've been trying to nurse him to health and just keep him safe, giving him sugarwater and will try to get some flowers for him. I love all little critters, and bees are amongst my favorites, on top of how crucial our pollenators are. *Thank you again* for creating this thread and sharing your experience, most of the other search results I found were about how to kill them  I hate humans sometimes.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1


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## Brinklings (May 19, 2018)

Yesterday my son saved a bee from drowning. It suckled from an orange slice and sheltered on Violets over night but it still remains flightless. Today it suckled from an apple slice. I also put out a fresh orange and strawberry slice and an orchid. Our concern is it's too chilly and windy tonight. Not sure how to help it further. Any suggestions?


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## Salmonsaladsandwich (May 20, 2018)

That's a male, you can easily identify males by the yellow patch on their face. He probably just reached the end of his lifespan, the males don't live very long.

They're certainly entertaining to watch in the wild. Sometimes I see male carpenter bees cruising around and engaging in fierce aerial chasing and fight scenes with any rivals or other similar- sized insects that stray too close. Amazing how fast and acrobatic they are compared to other bees. They can float in the air like giant hoverflies.

Reactions: Helpful 1


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## Vladaz1 (May 20, 2018)




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## Photofilly16 (Aug 10, 2018)

I know this thread is so old but I found this guy buzzing like crazy in my yard yesterday. A storm was coming in so I took him into my garage. I have him outside now in a Tupperware surrounded by a butterfly enclosure to protect him from birds. He has water, sugar water, and flowers. I know he’ll probably die


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## Triskele (Jul 3, 2019)

I found a female carpenter bee (Xylocopa violacea) last year September. It is now early June and she is still alive. She has deformed wing virus. Her wings eventually became brittle and fell off. I feed her as high a sugar concentration in water as I can get without it falling out of solution. Heat the water do not boil. Normal white table sugar. I mix in a tiny amount of multivitamin with a dash extra Vit C. When time comes to feed I mix in a little pollen from the health store. If you mix it in before it encourages bacterial growth. Bottles, utensils and syringes are sterilized by boiling water. She drinks out of the syringes herself by now but initially I had to feed her. I just depress the plunger periodically through the day to make sure the tips remain full and she helps herself. In winter this was all she had to eat but since early spring I offer her fresh picked flowers daily. They love compact flowers and especially wildflowers. But she adored grape hyacinth, dead nettle and wisteria flowers. She lives in a butterfly habitat amd sleeps in a rolled up toilet roll (rolled tight enough to resemble a natural tunnel) which I have stopped changing since she prefers the smell of her used tunnel. She likes being stroked by a soft brush. It is like caring for a baby... lots of work so take note. My kids found her and begged me otherwise I would rather have had nature take it's course. But of course I love her now and have learnt so much.


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## Triskele (Jul 3, 2019)

Store the sugar solution in the fridge and watch which flowers honey bees prefer to determine what to offer.


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