

Heated nectar can go slightly bad, causing it to be fermented.Ī drunken bee can get into many difficulties and problems. Nectar gets fermented when it’s been out in the summer heat for too long. A bee gets drunk when it has sipped too much fermented nectar from flowers. This may seem very violent and harsh, but it’s for the benefit of the overall bee colony.Ī drunken bee getting into the hive is dangerous because the fermented nectar can transform into honey and will risk all the bees of the entire hive getting paralyzed with devastating effects.īees, especially honey bees, can get drunk like us when we drink excess alcohol. Guard bees, as mentioned earlier, will either violently throw the bees out of the hive permanently or attack them, usually by tearing off their wings or legs. Any returning bee found drunk will be met with a violent response from the guard bees.

Guard bees, normally tasked to protect the hive from intruders, are also bouncers of the hive or nest’s entrance for bees that return to their hive. They can also be permanently kicked out of their hives or killed by the guard bees. Why Can’t Bees be Drunk in a Hive?ĭrunken bees get into many problems other than bumping into trees or not being able to fly properly. This odd and painful punishment is a way for the guard bees to warn the other bees of the colony to never stray too far from their tasks. If they choose the punishment route, the guard bees will attack the drunken bee by biting off its legs and ripping off the bee’s legs one by one as a punishment.Īfter the painful leg torture, the drunken bee has no chance of survival left and eventually dies. The hive rules are very strict for the honey bee colony and don’t tolerate drunk bees or any bee incapable of doing its tasks. Once identified, the guard bees will either ban the bee from returning to the hive or start attacking it as a punishment. When a drunk bee returns to its hive, the members of the bee colony will immediately know that it’s a drunk bee as the drunken bee will move oddly as if it’s doing a waggle dance.ĭue to the drunk bee’s odd behaviour, it’s not difficult for the other members of the bee colony to identify that the bee is drunk and needs to be banned from coming into the hive. When a bee ingests fermented nectar from flowers that have been in the heat for too long, they get drunk and start acting like drunk people.Ī drunk bee will fly oddly, bump into objects, walls, and trees, sometimes won’t even fly, and get lost and forget where it was going. Tree sap, such as the sap of a lime tree, can also ferment due to extreme heat, making many bees drunk.Īfter consuming a lot of nectar, bees will get dizzy and lost and don’t know where they’re going or where they need to go when they consume a lot of fermented nectar.

Bees that ingest this fermented nectar will get drunk and behave like we do if we drink alcohol. In very hot summer temperatures, nectar begins to heat up and becomes ethanol. This happens when nectar becomes heated due to summer heat.īees, like us, can get drunk and behave similarly to a drunk person. Yes! Bees can get drunk when they’ve sipped a lot of fermented nectar. Sometimes, even the calmest bee may act similar to a drunk as it’ll bump into trees, get lost, or seem unable to fly, so do bees get drunk like people? Bees have only one goal… Collect nectar and pollen.
