Author Topic: Bee drinking water (Read 15507 times)

Cindi · « **Reply #40 on:** April 15, 2007, 01:06:00 am »

AdmiralD. So, does your neighbour stand watch? Surely the bees don't guard the water source so that the deer don't drink. Gotta get a kick out of that thought for surely.

I am sure that the bees have many alternate sources of water. Maybe your neighbour just doesn't like the thought of bees nearby. Give him some honey....maybe that will change his mind. Have a wonderful night, great day, good health. Cindi

buzzbee · « **Reply #41 on:** April 15, 2007, 10:42:36 am »

The White Tail deer in our area are more nocturnal animals. There would be a better chance of seeing them at the water hole after the bees went back to the hive.It would be rare to see them out in broad daylight unless stormy weather is approaching!

Cindi · « **Reply #42 on:** April 15, 2007, 11:29:42 am »

Ken, see, that neighbour that is worried is full of hoo haw. Have a wonderful and great day, great health. Cindi

reinbeau · « **Reply #43 on:** April 15, 2007, 07:11:50 pm »

Quote from: pondman on April 14, 2007, 02:12:49 pm

Have never heard of that. If i knew that would work I would put a watering hole in the middle of the flower beds to keep the deer out of them. I have deer that feed around may hives. So I don't think that the bees are keeping the deer from drinking his water he has out for them. Have a great day

James

James, putting anything in the middle of a flower garden is setting up a salad bar for the deer! :lol:

Someone posted that deer are nocturnal, and that's for the most part true, however, if they're hungry and you've got a particularly tasty garden unprotected for them (but far enough from humans to be fair game) then they'll eat all day. Greg scared five from the yard down below the garage just last week. I'm definitely going to have problems this year :-x

As far as bees and deer go, wouldn't the bees be as nasty to deer as they are to horses? I know those two definitely don't mix!

dlmarti · « **Reply #44 on:** April 15, 2007, 07:36:16 pm »

Quote from: Sean Kelly on April 10, 2007, 01:38:06 am

I was just thinking about how to water my bees with out them trying to get it from my neighbor's pool. Cool thing I found this post. We have a seasonal creek that runs through my back yard, but it stops after spring and returns in the winter. Too bad cause that would be perfect. I thought about just using a small bucket with cedar chips in it so they dont drown. Good idea? Bad idea? From the sound of it maybe I'll throw a handful of dirt in with it. lol.

Cedar chips have some nasty resins in them (hence how they repel moths), I know this is toxic to reptiles and amphibians. I have no idea what it would do to bees, but I wouldn't want to try it either.

If it were me, I would solder a hose connection to a piece of 1/2" copper pipe (like 2 inches long). Cap and solder the other end of the pipe shut. Drill a hole in the end of the cap and screw in a self tapping screw. Hook the whole contraption up to a hose, and turn on the water. Adjust the screw in and out, until you get a very slow drip. Place this above a flat rock near the hive.

Once the hole wears out around the screw, you might need to add a washer to help regulate the flow.

Cindi · « **Reply #45 on:** April 16, 2007, 10:11:31 am »

dlmarti. Nice idea. Best of a great day. Cindi

dlmarti · « **Reply #46 on:** April 16, 2007, 10:49:29 am »

Quote from: Cindi on April 16, 2007, 10:11:31 am

dlmarti. Nice idea. Best of a great day. Cindi

Building something like this is really easy, but sometimes people think soldering plumbing parts is hard.
You can pick up these parts at any hardware store, for pennies. If you don't know how to solder, just ask a couple of friends, or give it a try yourself.
The good thing about this project, is that you don't care if it leaks!

Mici · « **Reply #47 on:** April 19, 2007, 06:38:15 am »

ok, probably not so important question but still.
bees have been using the water i'm giving them, but now..now they've gone mad, from 20-30 bees at a time, now, there's at least 50 bees drinking at ALL times. what does it mean? intensive brood rearing? nectar flow in decline? or they've just got really used to it?

Cindi · « **Reply #48 on:** April 19, 2007, 10:39:40 am »

Mici, when bees are consuming large amounts of water, they are brood rearing (unless it is really hot and they are using it for air conditioning in their home). That is a sure sign of babies in the hive. Beautiful day, awesome times, good health. Cindi

Moonshae · « **Reply #49 on:** May 28, 2007, 08:16:34 pm »

I'm using a dog bowl with the big plastic jug reservoir attached. I filled the bowl up to the water line with small rocks, so the bees can easily get to the water, but it's not deep enough for them to get stuck. I had seen that they don't prefer the cleanest water, so I wasn't real picky about taking out any grass or anything that may make the water stinkier. I have the bowl on a stand at about the height of the base of the hives, about 5 feet behind them. I've not seen the bees use the water, but it hasn't been very dry or hot. Should I add anything to the water to attract them to it as a primary source? Both my neighbors have pools, so I'm pretty keen on encouraging the bees to enjoy the water I provide more than the pool water that's farther away.

doak · « **Reply #50 on:** May 28, 2007, 08:49:30 pm »

I took the top that covers the pull out trays in the bottom of the refridge. Put it on a stand bottom side up, fill with pea gravel, then fill with water. last 3 or 4 days.

Kathyp · « **Reply #51 on:** May 28, 2007, 08:51:08 pm »

mine are sucking water out of the mud around the horse trough and off the bottom of an overturned rubbermaid trough. they are not touching the water that i left out for them. the only advice i can give is to leave multiple sources of water around your property and let them pick what they like.

Moonshae · « **Reply #52 on:** May 28, 2007, 09:22:39 pm »

Quote from: kathyp on May 28, 2007, 08:51:08 pm

the only advice i can give is to leave multiple sources of water around your property and let them pick what they like.

Sounds like a plan. I'll make some mud in a tray, too, see what works. Maybe I'll get some mud from the lake nearby, that should be full of nice organic matter.

trapperbob · « **Reply #53 on:** May 28, 2007, 10:28:27 pm »

I use a couple of 7 gallon poultry waterers and put some rock from a old 75 gallon fish tank in the tray to keep them from drowning. The wife had been after me to get rid of this rock for some time so the oppertunity presented itself and now it's not in her way anymore. A person could use sticks,course gravel or rocks just big enough to fit. Anything just so they won't drown. This seems to work very well they use it all the time.

qa33010 · « **Reply #54 on:** May 29, 2007, 03:41:31 am »

They won't touch what I set out for them. They like the neighbors pool and the wadded up one on top of the storm shelter with old rain water and algae/mold in another neighbors yard. At least that is where I see bees drinking. I was told to make it more desireable to the bees use a board with grooves cut in zigzags set at a shallow angle and trickle water down the board. I'm giving it a shot this week.

Apis629 · « **Reply #55 on:** May 29, 2007, 08:31:00 am »

Quote

ok, probably not so important question but still.
bees have been using the water i'm giving them, but now..now they've gone mad, from 20-30 bees at a time, now, there's at least 50 bees drinking at ALL times. what does it mean? intensive brood rearing? nectar flow in decline? or they've just got really used to it?

It probably just means it's dry out. We've been in a drought lately here in Florida so, the bees are always in large numbers around their water source.

Moonshae · « **Reply #56 on:** May 30, 2007, 10:52:18 am »

I've seen vanilla and mint described as an attractant for pollen patties, so I added about 1 tbsp of vanilla extract and 2 tbsp of mint flakes to the bowl. I was worried about overdoing the clorox. I'm going to add some other trays around outside the bee yard with different substrates to see if I can find something that works.

Moonshae · « **Reply #57 on:** June 04, 2007, 07:56:45 pm »

We got some rain last night into today, and it was the first I've seen my girls drinking water. Did they go to the wonderful source I provided so conveniently? No, of course not. They chose the runoff overflow from my rusty, cast-iron "smoker" inserts for my grill:

And the nasty mold dripping off the deck table (there are so many mosquitoes in our area, we can't sit outside in the evening, so we tend to neglect the furniture):

I'm going to move the water source I provided over onto the deck, since they seem to be looking for water there and are ignoring it nearby (and [YAY!!] my neighbors' pools).

doak · « **Reply #58 on:** June 04, 2007, 08:31:40 pm »

I put mine about 10 ft right in front of the hive.
Bees, most times will go to the nearest source.
I don't know about city water, I have my own well, hard rock bottom.
They love it.
doak

DayValleyDahlias · « **Reply #59 on:** June 04, 2007, 08:44:22 pm »

:? I never see the bees drink water...hhhmmm...I have a 3 tiered pond bottom fountain in the courtyard, and a bunch of small dishes and birdsbaths throughout the gardens...but I don't see the bees drinking...there is a pond about 1/4mile from here, maybe they all meet there....