Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: Cindi on April 07, 2007, 12:54:53 pm

Title: Bee drinking water
Post by: Cindi on April 07, 2007, 12:54:53 pm: This sounds like a good question. When there is moisture on the SBB (if you are using solid), do the bees utilize this moisture source in their own hive.

I recall in a post that it was a good idea to fill empty cells with water (in dry climates especially) so the bees have access to clean, fresh water. This may be something I may do regardless of moisture outside. It just makes some good sense for the bees to have access to water right in their own home. Have a wonderful day, good health and all good things. Cindi
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Romahawk on April 07, 2007, 02:52:44 pm: Quote from: Cindi on April 07, 2007, 12:54:53 pm
I recall in a post that it was a good idea to fill empty cells with water (in dry climates especially) so the bees have access to clean, fresh water. This may be something I may do regardless of moisture outside. It just makes some good sense for the bees to have access to water right in their own home. Cindi

How about a little indoor plumbing to eliminate the need for cleansing flights. :-D
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Dane Bramage on April 07, 2007, 03:33:07 pm: Quote from: Cindi on April 07, 2007, 12:54:53 pm
I recall in a post that it was a good idea to fill empty cells with water (in dry climates especially) so the bees have access to clean, fresh water. This may be something I may do regardless of moisture outside.

Wouldn't this be a concern as a source for mold/mildew/etc in all but the most arid climates? I would be hesitant to introduce any additional water that the bees do not bring in on their own accord. What I've learned so far would put an emphasis on good aeration of the hive (screened bottoms, etc.,) and sufficient external water source(s).
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Michael Bush on April 07, 2007, 06:05:14 pm: >I recall in a post that it was a good idea to fill empty cells with water (in dry climates especially) so the bees have access to clean, fresh water.

I've never heard of it except in a swarm box during queen rearing when they are confined. From watching bees collect water, I don't think fresh or clean is part of their criteria.
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Robo on April 07, 2007, 11:16:32 pm: Cindi,

Just give them a boardman feeder with water. Easier to fill and easier to monitor. When we get severe droughts I sometimes do it.
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Brian D. Bray on April 08, 2007, 12:06:32 am: I years past I used to do what Robo suggested. Now with a creek in the back pasture and a lake 1/2 mile away i don't worry about it. The lake always has water even when the creek goes dry.
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Cindi on April 08, 2007, 10:55:08 am: I have lots of clean water nearby for the bees to drink. Remember in some of my older posts I showed the picture of the ditch with the hose that trickles into it? That is one of the bees' watersources and it is clear and pure running all year long, the bees flock to the sides of this ditch (and other parts and places) to obtain pure water.

My question was only a general curiosity queery. Just thoughts that float in and out of my head. Have a beautiful and wonderful Easter day, and good health. Cindi
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Understudy on April 08, 2007, 11:37:27 am: Maybe it is bees in South Florida. I have a nice bird bath. I keep the water in it very clean. I have two five gallon buckets with soil and moss that I keep moist. Do the bees want the clean bird bath water, hell no. They drink mud. I have to argue with bees when I am trying to pot up the plants and mix new buckets of soil.

Somehow I think if I took my bees to a bar and offered them Belevedre vodka or Stoli, they would drink the Stoli.

Sincerely,
Brendhan
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Cindi on April 08, 2007, 11:44:44 am: Brendhan, I wonder if your bird bath is not super shallow? I would imagine that it has "stuff" in it if it is more than an inch deep to keep the bees afloat. I think that the bees like to stand feet deep only (meaning almost no depth to the water) to drink. The muck and moss is probably the perfect alighting medium for the bees to land on and is warm. I know bees prefer warm to cool water.

My ditch wall surface is always moist, the moisture from the hose dribble keeps the walls moist and it is probably pretty mucky on their tarsi, and I think they love that. Probably a feeling of security to know that they won't be drowning.

What we do for our bees. Best of the day and great health to go with it. Cindi
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Dane Bramage on April 08, 2007, 12:04:40 pm: good points Cindi & "general curiosity queries" are a good thing (imho). :) - I'd imagine the bees have to reconcile their thirst with the possibility of drowning. I also understand that they are drawn to fragrance, any fragrance (doesn't necessarily have to be pleasant, lol). Pure water being odorless, etc., ~ it may not do much for them. Clean (naturally occurring) water also requires good flow and aeration which likely also equates to more bee-drowning potential.
If you want to try a test put two identical shallow (no chance of bee drowning) trays of water side by side near the hives. One pure and the other blended with herbs, flowers, essential oils and/or grass (or something) and see which they prefer.
The next step in curiosity queries is curiosity experiments ~ then it gets really scary! :evil: ;)
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Denise on April 08, 2007, 12:44:18 pm: Our ladies make me shake my head over what kind of water they prefer. We have our creek that runs 10 feet from the hive. Nice and fresh. Will they use it? Nope. They prefer the nasty, vile, stagnant water that gathers in the scoop of the tractor. Bleah! The more disgusting the water, the more they like it. You would think with that being a chemistry experiment gone wrong, it would hurt them. It must not since they keep coming back for more. Silly bees.
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Cindi on April 08, 2007, 01:17:55 pm: Pungent, ucky, gross, stale water is probably the ultimate choice of taste to a bee (LOLL). They do not have the same "taste buds" as humans, so our tasteless water is yummy to us, but they may prefer the stinky muck water. Again, gotta LOLL.

I grow lemon balm beside the ditch, wonder if the the above ground/below ground parts of this plant seep into the earth and provide a sweet taste to the muck of the ditch slope? They do love the lemon balm, that is common knowledge. Have a wonderful day, with lots of good health. Cindi
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Michael Bush on April 08, 2007, 01:55:26 pm: I think the smell helps them recruit water foragers. Without smell I think they have trouble recruiting.

Bees can filter out microscopic particles when they suck up water or nectar, so it's actually much cleaner after they filter it.
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Cindi on April 08, 2007, 11:52:40 pm: Michael, good information and makes some really good sense when one ponders these thoughts. Have the best day, and good health. Cindi
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: 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.

Sean
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: tig on April 10, 2007, 03:16:45 am: i have clay jars that have a faucet on them. i fill the jars and let the water drip slowly thru the faucet to a waiting clay pot. the pot is about 2 inches deep and i filled it with stones so the bees don't drown. i trained my bees to drink from this source so they don't invade my neighbors laundry area or swimming pools, not to mention if they are around agricultural areas such as rice fields, it prevents them from drinking in the paddies that may be treated with pesticides or herbicides.

the clay jars are ideal because one jar holds water for about 3 to 4 days depending on how fast it drips and it makes the water cool which the bees seem to love on a hot summers day.
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Michael Bush on April 10, 2007, 07:33:13 am: I assume they are taking the water off the outside of the jars?
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: tig on April 10, 2007, 08:11:03 am: yes they do. the jars have covers so they can't get in and drown. moss grows on the outside of the jar and on really hot days the jars "weep" water on the sides. thats the water the bees seem to love best.
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: reinbeau on April 10, 2007, 03:12:23 pm: I bought these aquifers (http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/products.asp?pcode=727) from Brushy Mountain and they worked well. It would be easy to get some taffeta from a fabric supply store and some styrofoam floats and make these out of 5 gallon buckets, or anything else you have around that holds water. The floats are beneath the fabric, and the bees can walk all over it without fear of drowning.
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Michael Bush on April 10, 2007, 09:46:15 pm: I put a lot of sticks in a five gallon bucket and the bees love that. They crawl down the sticks to the water.
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: tillie on April 10, 2007, 09:56:13 pm: I use a plant saucer inside another plant saucer. I plant things in the outer saucer and have water and a brick in the inner saucer. The bees are there all the time. Here's a picture:
(http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k288/tillielin/DSC00728.jpg)

Linda T in Atlanta
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Zoot on April 11, 2007, 12:03:28 am: I experimented with water sources all through last summer and the results were interesting. In every instance where I put out "clear, clean" water from our well (pans, buckets, etc) the bees shunned it. Their preference? Scummy run-off from our A.C system when it was on and water in the horse troughs where, alas, many drown despite efforts with floats, etc.
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Sean Kelly on April 11, 2007, 07:37:22 am: I like Tillie's idea. Looks like it would work and would look nice in the yard too. :-)

The only people in my neighborhood who have a pool are my parents who live next door. They're also our landlords. My dad is DEATHLY afraid of bees since he stuck his head in a nest of yellowjackets when he was a kid. Of course he associates all stinging insects as the same thing: Bees. It's taken me a long time to convince them in letting us have just one hive. The last thing I need is our bees found floating in their pool. I gota come up with something that would work. Man, I can't tell you how hard I worked convincing him that my bees wont get in his food this summer. :-)
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Robo on April 11, 2007, 09:59:07 am: Quote from: Zoot on April 11, 2007, 12:03:28 am
I experimented with water sources all through last summer and the results were interesting. In every instance where I put out "clear, clean" water from our well (pans, buckets, etc) the bees shunned it.
Add some chlorine to it.

I use to use a dogloo with sand. Now we have a swimming pool :-P
(http://robo.hydroville.com/albums/Misc/DCP_0005_002.jpg)
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Cindi on April 11, 2007, 11:27:14 am: Linda, oooooh!!!! You do take such nice pictures. Now that is an idea worthy of entertaining at my place, even if it is for the growth of the plant.

Bacopa loves to be moist, that was a great idea to plant it in the planter. Good for you. Linda, keep bringing on the pictures. I love to look at them. Beautiful, have the wonderful, good day, full of good health. Cindi
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: tillie on April 11, 2007, 02:29:55 pm: Not my own idea - I got it from Birds and Blooms

(http://www.birdsandblooms.com/dycon.asp?parent=34782&RefURL=&KeyCode=&tdate=&PMCode=&OrgURL=)

- original idea to be a bird bath - added the brick for the bees. They often sit on the brick and suck up water from the porous brick. I've not had a drowned bee there since I added the brick.

LT busy at work
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: MrILoveTheAnts on April 11, 2007, 02:49:25 pm: Placing sticks in the water might reduce the number of dead bees in the water.
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Mici on April 11, 2007, 03:44:59 pm: (http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/6913/dscf1911ir3.th.jpg) (http://img403.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf1911ir3.jpg)
what ta hell is it? totem? shrine? maybe a sacrifical altar? who would know.....

(http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/8486/dscf1913oq8.th.jpg) (http://img297.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf1913oq8.jpg)

oh, no just a bunch of thirsty bees :-D
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: tillie on April 11, 2007, 04:10:07 pm: How cool is that! I love the drinking troughs!

Linda T
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Cindi on April 12, 2007, 12:55:38 am: Linda, thanks, I'll check out the site.

Mici, now that is something else. Did you construct this floater? Very nice art work, (I do presume it is a picture of your bees). You have an inventive mind, go for it. Best of the beautiful day, good health. Cindi
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Cindi on April 12, 2007, 01:01:50 am: Robo, that picture is very interesting. BUT, you have sparked my curiosity, I can't see all of the picture, so I would love to know what on earth is a dogloo? Probably something I know of, but have no clue unless I get more clues. Have a wonderful day, great health. Cindi
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Mici on April 12, 2007, 04:26:10 am: well, it wasn't me who constructed it, i only gave the idea, anyway, there wasn't much construction, he only built up one more layer of bricks. all material is OLD, from a castle ruin, the main two rocks were brought here mroe than half a century ago, while the bricks were "looted" now, but we didn't ruin anything, only picked them up. some really FINE bricks were made 200+ years ago. you don't see that kind nowadays
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Robo on April 12, 2007, 09:28:28 am: Quote from: Cindi on April 12, 2007, 01:01:50 am
Robo, that picture is very interesting. BUT, you have sparked my curiosity, I can't see all of the picture, so I would love to know what on earth is a dogloo? Probably something I know of, but have no clue unless I get more clues. Have a wonderful day, great health. Cindi

(http://image.bizrate.com/resize?sq=160&uid=355710661&mid=121361)

That's actually a picture of a feeder, but the waterer is the same with just a smaller hole. I just filled the bowl with play sand.
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Cindi on April 12, 2007, 10:17:47 am: Robo, nice. Now I know. That is a great waterer/feeder surely.

My dogs have fresh water I give them all the time outside. But honestly, their preference is the darn toilet. It is flushed so many times a day around here, that I honestly would have to say that it is the cleanest water around. I only wish that they could learn to lift the toilet seat, it is a pain in butt (ha, I made a funny), always gotta look before ya sit. Have a wonderful and beautiful day, sun is gonna shine, think I am gonna now my lawn that takes about 2 hours from start to finish. Cindi
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Robo on April 12, 2007, 10:31:38 am: Quote from: Cindi on April 12, 2007, 10:17:47 am
I only wish that they could learn to lift the toilet seat, it is a pain in butt (ha, I made a funny), always gotta look before ya sit.

Ah, Now I can blame it on the dog :evil:
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Cindi on April 14, 2007, 11:39:35 am: Robo, right, I do actually always check to see the colour of the liquid drops on the toilet seat, ha, ha, it is always clear!!!! I bet if your wife saw you say that, you would be in trouble!!!! Have the wonderful and beautiful day, good health. Cindi
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: AdmiralD on April 14, 2007, 01:58:20 pm: I have a curiousty question regarding bee drinking water and deer.

I have a neighbor who has a spot for deer to drink water from. And my bees, which are about 1/4 of a mile away, have found his water trough .

He claims the bees are keeping the deer away...

Have you all heard of that? Do bees keep the deer away from the water trough?
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: 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
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Mici on April 14, 2007, 03:17:33 pm: ermmm, look at the the picture of my bee-water-supply (previous page)
well, the cat jumps onto it and drinks out of it, now i don't know if cat's are more bold or something but somehow the cat scares of the bees-for those few minutes.
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: prisoner#1 on April 14, 2007, 09:16:48 pm: Quote from: Cindi on April 12, 2007, 10:17:47 am
My dogs have fresh water I give them all the time outside. But honestly, their preference is the darn toilet.

I used to have a sign over my toilet that said "please flush the dogs waterbowl after each use"
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Cindi 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
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: buzzbee 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!
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Cindi 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
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: reinbeau 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!
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: dlmarti 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.
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Cindi on April 16, 2007, 10:11:31 am: dlmarti. Nice idea. Best of a great day. Cindi
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: dlmarti 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!
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Mici 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?
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Cindi 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
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Moonshae 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.

(http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/7349/beewaterdq2.th.jpg) (http://img409.imageshack.us/my.php?image=beewaterdq2.jpg)
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: doak 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.
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Kathyp 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.
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Moonshae 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.
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: trapperbob 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.
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: qa33010 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.
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Apis629 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.
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Moonshae 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.
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Moonshae 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:

(http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/5826/beeonsmokeryy8.th.jpg) (http://img239.imageshack.us/my.php?image=beeonsmokeryy8.jpg)

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):

(http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/7074/beetonguens3.th.jpg) (http://img239.imageshack.us/my.php?image=beetonguens3.jpg)

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).
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: doak 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
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: DayValleyDahlias 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....
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: MrILoveTheAnts on June 04, 2007, 10:37:43 pm: Always good to have a water source near the hives so they can cool off. Especially over the summer. We have small two layer pond in the middle of our flower garden. Pond plants and gold fish add color.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v735/mrilovetheants/Bees/PondFlower3.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v735/mrilovetheants/Bees/BeeDrink.jpg)
I highly recommend one. I see the bees using the pond more then the flowers.
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: DayValleyDahlias on June 05, 2007, 11:07:57 am: What great photos...Maybe I will put some water hyacinth in the pond bottom of our fountain!
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: reinbeau on June 05, 2007, 11:37:02 am: It's funny. The two hives we have at my mothers are directly above a garden pond. They ignore it! They go to her backyard birdbath by the dozens! She's put a shingle in it so they don't drown.
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: qa33010 on June 07, 2007, 01:44:13 am: Well they haven't gone to the board yet. Maybe I should get some pool water and put it in boardman feeders. At least get some decent use out of them that won't incite robbing. :lol:
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: Moonshae on June 07, 2007, 10:48:28 am: I thought about using an inside feeder (top or boardman) to provide a water source, but wouldn't that make things too humid in the hive?
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: nepenthes on June 07, 2007, 10:57:40 am: Moonshae- I dont see how it would, bees do an excelent job of making it dry in the hive any ways.

reinbeau- how close are the hives to the pond? I think if its right under the hive they are just gonna fly right over it with out noticing, right?
Title: Re: Bee drinking water
Post by: beekeeperookie on June 07, 2007, 01:06:24 pm: so far i been using a dog waterer and a chicken water they are about three feet from each of my two hives and they seem to use it or a least i seen some bees on there