Naughty honeybees and neighbor's pool

[James Henderson]

Before I left on my last business trip, I guess I did not stress enough and repeatidly to my roommates to keep the bee watering pools CLEAN AND ALGAE FREE!! I did tellthem (one of their tasks in leu of dirt cheap rent), but perhaps they forgot or didn't have time.

This week, a neighbor mentioned that my honeybees (not the ones from the other beekeepers in my neighborhood) were using her pool as a watering source. I appologized to her.

She said all the bees in my two hives started using her pool just last week and they drink from it 24 hours per day with hundreds in the pool at a time.

I asked to see if I could look at the pool and see if I can figure something out, but I was told no.

Not sure if here figures on the number of honeybees are acurate. The last two days I saw numerous bees from both hives going to the existing pools and the new 150 gallon pool in my yard.

Before I put the two hives in my yard, she was cool with my plan and always roams through my yard photographing my wildflowers and loved my honey...at least till my bees visited her pool. I tried offering here a larger honey package this time and build her a free website for her art business, but she no longer likes honey.

As my roommates let the pools in my yard run low and did not keep them clean, some of my honeybees probably diverted to her pool.

I suggested that if she cover it for a days, they perhaps may revert back to my pools and the new 150 gallon additional pool I installed yesterday next to the hives.

Anyone think that covering the pool for a few days to a week may divert the bees back to the ones on my property? She said she has never had a single bee of any type ever visit her pool in over 20 years.

You think moving the two hives to another yard for a couple months then bringing them back would re-orient them back to my pools?

My hives comply with parish/state beekeeeping laws and hives and yard have been inspected and approved by the State of Louisiana. I have my permit number and contact info displayed in an obivious location per law.

I would like to keep at least one hive on my property, the two preferably, but I don't want a bad neighbor relationship nor a lawsuit. No other neighbors, even with pools, have ever complained.

[onelove]

*****
I asked to see if I could look at the pool and see if I can figure something out, but I was told no.
*****
I think you already have a bad neighbor relationship. sounds like a piece of work.

You might consider adding things to your pool like plants/sticks/whatever to increase the evaporation profile. maybe you are already be doing this. in addition to increasing the local humidity around them, plants will keep the algae down by using up the nitrates (?) in the water.

Papyrus is a plant that would probably grow very well in your area. my bees used to love sucking water off the dead stalks and off the sand planting medium when I had that growing. Now they use my neighbor's pool tongue.gif

nice website james!

[ June 30, 2006, 03:59 PM: Message edited by: onelove ]

[iddee]

I think you need to find her real reason for being unhappy. It isn't bees in her pool. Did you scorn her for another woman? Do you have a nicer yard the hers? She is using the bees for revenge for something else. Find out what.

In the meantime if you really want to play her game, hide your hives in your yard and put empty boxes in their place and tell her they are gone, all that is left is empty hives.

[brent.roberts]

I have a pool and all last year tried to keep them out with standard floating bubble "solar" covers .... no way. They landed on the cover and drank at the edges of the cover.
I then got one of the little plastic tanks and got them going into it this spring before I took off the winter cover.

Once they start using a source it is going to be nearly impossible to stop them. A vacation to another yard miles away might be the trick. I think if they were there through 3-4 weeks it would be enough. All the foragers would have died off and been replaced by then making it safe to return them.

When you bring them back put a tiny bit of salt in the water near them. They seem to prefer water with a bit of salt.

LOL with the neighbour.

[ July 01, 2006, 08:56 PM: Message edited by: The Honey House ]

[hobbee]

I have had the pool problem, I have found leaving nothing in the water, nothing to land on makes them find another source but a few will partake the splashes when the kids play. But that nothing compared to when they decide to use it as a water source, they climb in your hair, there everywhere !!

[mobees]

James
You need a watering pipe like they have at the bee lab!

[James Henderson]

Thanks for the advice!!

Today, while moving a Russian and Buckfast F1 hive from my yard north of New Orleans, to my house in Baton Rouge for the night, and then to my new yard in Slaughter (north of Baton Rouge), creepy name I know, in the morning, I decided to send my house Italians on a little vacation the first week of August after I steal more of their honey again.

I figure a couple months in farm country in Slaughter will be enough for the existing generation to bite the dust. When I move them back to my house in October, they will have the existing 150 gallon pool and a new 20 ft X 20 ft water garden to frolic in to there hearts content.

I will also have a privacy fence to block the view of the two hives from the street.

Two of my adjacent neigbors who were initally apprehensive about my new part-time business/hobby just love the black mail honey and other honey products I give them. They have had no problems with the bees and today one asked how my honeybees were doing!!

Never a dull moment around here!!

Iddee,

Actually neighbor in reference has video cameras all around her home. Neighbor next door to me pissed neighbor in reference off when they cut down their southern magnolia and a couple of wisteria bushes. To top it off, they put up a privacy fence on their own property which broke the camel's back and cause neighbor in reference to get very angry.

Time to move to the country like I should have done three yeas ago!! I think I should have actually stayed in north Georgia.

[brent.roberts]

dont tell neighbour in reference you have moved the bees but give opportunities to complain .... after your bees are gone.

[drobbins]

Brent,

excellent advice
I used that trick on a neighbor who called animal control on a rooster of mine
she called again a week after I got rid of the rooster and now animal control has her on the "wacko list" smile.gif

Dave

[Michael Bush]

>This week, a neighbor mentioned that my honeybees (not the ones from the other beekeepers in my neighborhood) were using her pool as a watering source. I appologized to her.

Of course, it's just as likely from the other bees... but also just as likely from yours.

>She said all the bees in my two hives started using her pool just last week and they drink from it 24 hours per day with hundreds in the pool at a time.

Obviously an exageration as bees do not fly 24 hours per day.

>I asked to see if I could look at the pool and see if I can figure something out, but I was told no.

It seems like if she wanted to resolve the problem she'd want to help solve it.

>Not sure if here figures on the number of honeybees are acurate. The last two days I saw numerous bees from both hives going to the existing pools and the new 150 gallon pool in my yard.

A hive can field a lot of water carriers on a hot day.

>Anyone think that covering the pool for a few days to a week may divert the bees back to the ones on my property?

It might.

>She said she has never had a single bee of any type ever visit her pool in over 20 years.

She's never NOTICED a single bee visit her pool. I guarentee they have.

>You think moving the two hives to another yard for a couple months then bringing them back would re-orient them back to my pools?

It might. But the nicest thing is, if you leave some empty boxes there, and she continues to complain you can eliminate that it's your bees. smile.gif

>I would like to keep at least one hive on my property, the two preferably, but I don't want a bad neighbor relationship nor a lawsuit. No other neighbors, even with pools, have ever complained.

If it's not too much trouble I think moving them and seeing if the complaints continue is a first step. Then try to reorient them to your pools when you bring them back.

[jim b]

>but she no longer likes honey.
>I asked to see if I could look at the pool and see if I can figure something out, but I was told no
>She said she has never had a single bee of any type ever visit her pool in over 20 years.

Unstable or unreliable individule, full of surprises i'll bet, and not usually nice ones. So sorry.

[mac]

Mobees .Could you please tell me what a watering pipe is????? :D

[mobees]

Nothing more than a plastic pipe with holes and a fill hole for water to drink. The one at the beelab was impressive with lots of bees drinking. My two bird baths are just as good, the only problem is they drink it dry in a few hours. On hot days, not sure how much they gather but it must be pints.

[chemistbert]

All this trouble makes me glad I live in the middle of nowhere. My bees have a couple of streams and such to drink from but they always find the nastiest water they can. This week it has been out of the bottom of my burn barrel. Crazy little bugger.

[Jim Fischer]

Here's a little factoid about bee behavior that
will help in scenarios like this one.

While bees certainly do get vector and distance
information from other foragers (dare I say
"dance" without sparking yet another debate?)
each bee remembers its RETURN flight to
the hive as "the way to get back there".

What this means is that you can capture bees
at the pool, keep them in a dark container
equipped with a sponge soaked with (in this
case, we want to influence water foragers)
water, so they "tank up", and then release
them from YOUR water source.

Do this enough, and all the water foragers
"learn" the flight vectors to YOUR water
source, and no longer visit the pool.

This is a practical use of the Bee-Lining
boxes my Dad makes, but an inventive person
could make their own contraption for this.

[Michael Bush]

>What this means is that you can capture bees
at the pool

Unfortunately it would require access to the neighbors pool which she has already denied. But that's a useful bit of information.

[Brad Barton]

This is a practical use of the Bee-Lining
boxes my Dad makes, but an inventive person
could make their own contraption for this.

I've got the same neighbor's pool trouble. Can anyone explain just how one would go about catching the bees at the neighbors pool? What the heck is a Bee-Lining box?

[magnet-man]

I ended up using a mister. Home Depot sells free standing ones with two nozzles for around thirteen dollars but water usage is a bit higher than I liked.
http://www.orbitonline.com/index.cfm?fa=arizonamist.product&productid=2

I ended up purchasing the components and made one with a single nozzle. Water usage is a half gallon an hour so I just let it run 24/7. http://www.orbitonline.com/index.cfm?fa=arizonamist.product&productid=8
http://www.orbitonline.com/index.cfm?fa=arizonamist.product&productid=17

If your tip limes up, just take it off and soak in vinegar.

[ July 04, 2006, 01:09 AM: Message edited by: magnet-man ]

[woodchopper]

Thanks for posting that link magnet-man!! Looks like a great gadget.

[RidgeRunnerBunny]

My Mom-in-Law had a very similar problem when She lived in San Diego. She told the neighbor to check the bees ankle for their identification tag to make certain that they were "her" bees and not ones from down the road. She explained that they did travel great distances and do get thirsty while away from home. So they weren't necessisarily her bees. bees will be bees.

[JP]

James, about your watering pools and the algae. Do you have any fish in the pools? If not you may want to add some algae eaters, preferably some plecostimus, sp? Sounds like this is a difficult person you are dealing with, like M.B. said, if she wanted a resolve, she would try to work with you to resolve the problem, if it indeed can be resolved. Sounds like you are a great neighbor to have around. This woman is just mad at the world right now, I would give her her space. Good luck.

[James Henderson]

Actually got a rare day off today so I thought I would relax using the computer. Well needed day off after yesterday when the day high peaked around 116 degrees F on the international border in the Barry M Goldwater Range plus a morning sand storm to boot.

I noticed a few things after installing my new 150 gallon pool and waterfalls back home prior to returning again to SW Arizona this month.

After setting it up, foragers from both my hives began investigating the new pools, some landing and drinking on the limbs and colored rings from some of the plastic bee aquifers from Brushy Mountain. The week I was home, I watched numerous bees from both hives go to the new pool and the existing pools next to the each colony and then back to their respective hive.

Also noticed a number of bees from outside my yard visit my water gardens and then return from where they came in two different directions. Actually prior to establishing my two house hives, I had honeybees and native bees visiting small water gardens I set up around my yard, so I didn't really belive my neighbor when she told me she has never had any type of bee in her pool in 20 years.

I asked my roommates to put a Plecostomus in the pool and before I left I put in some aquatic plants and some mosquito fish to control mosquito lavae. Put a bunch of potted citrus, ferns, blueberries, and Iris spp. around the water garden. Look pretty nice.

When I am home the first week of August, I'll try to find the pics of the Baton Rouge Bee Lab's watering system and post them under a separate post.

Neighbor said she had been intending to walk through the neigborhood asking if people had swimming pools and if there were any honeybees visiting them. I assume for a petetion or something or backing to call the police on me.

After I send the my two house hives to my rural outyard in Slaughter, LA in August after harvest, I believe I will deny her access to my yard for photographing my wildflowers and gardens for here art business.

I'll also set up some empty dummy hives where the Italians were located.

One of my neighbor's who was a little apprehensive about my new part-time business loves the honey I give them and others surrounding my home and from time to time asks how the honeybees are doing! Actually no one else has ever complained to me or my roommates about honeybees. Some of them do appreciate me for removing snakes and coons from their yards and some of them have swimming pools.

Time to sell my house and move to the country.

[GaSteve]

>While bees certainly do get vector and distance
information from other foragers (dare I say
"dance" without sparking yet another debate?)
each bee remembers its RETURN flight to
the hive as "the way to get back there".

What this means is that you can capture bees
at the pool, keep them in a dark container
equipped with a sponge soaked with (in this
case, we want to influence water foragers)
water, so they "tank up", and then release
them from YOUR water source.


I've probably thought about this way too much, but say your neighbor's pool is north of your hives and your water source is south of your hives. If you capture the bees at your neighbor's pool and release them at your water source, wouldn't their "return flight" then take them further south away from your hives. If they always orient to the sun, I don't see how they can "adjust" for relocation in the bee-lining box.

[IndianaHoney]

"If they always orient to the sun, I don't see how they can "adjust" for relocation in the bee-lining box."

They do orientate from the sun, but remember when a bee first becomes a feild bee, they fly in circles getting further from the hive. They know the area up to two miles. Thats why feild bees will return to the old hive location if you move a hive less than two miles.
Even if you capture them and move them (less than two miles), they can find their way back to the hive fairly easily. When you capture them and move them to another water source, you are basicly fooling them into thinking that they went to that water source to begin with.