Bees in search of food after back-to-back storms

Back-to-back hurricanes have left one of the insects that keep Southwest Florida beautiful starving.

Right now, honeybees are facing a critical food shortage, and they are now coming to us to find food to eat.

One of the reasons we are seeing bees near trashcans is because they are just trying to find some food.

Think of the hurricanes like a car wash. The rain cleaned out pollen and damaged trees and plants.

That has turned the bees into scavengers looking through garbage cans for anything sweet.

“After a storm, a lot of the pollen, a lot of the blooming things are knocked off a lot of the trees, and that puts bees out there looking for more resources,” said Matt Anderson, bee remover.

Matt Anderson has worked with bees for years. Anderson told us the honey flow happens later in Southwest Florida because we have Brazillian peppertree, and that is part of the issue.

“Those resources are gone. That’s why you see them a lot of times in trash or around sweet spots, lemonade stands, things like that. You’re going to see a lot more bee activity, especially on top of the fact that they’re already kind of stirred up and displaced from the storm,” Anderson said.

Some people are so concerned about the bees that they’re feeding them. One of those people is Laura Samuels.

“After this hurricane, I noticed the same thing again, bees all over my chickens, watermelon. so I started feeding them again. I’ve got two dishes out there,” Samuels said.

Samuels feeds the bees twice a day outside of her home. She is just doing her part to ensure no hungry bees are buzzing in SWFL.

Samuels first started feeding bees after Hurricane Ian.

She told us she has gone through 17 pounds of sugar in the last few weeks feeding the bees. They like sugar water, and she hopes others will consider feeding our important pollinators, too.