Provide Water, Let Them Forage Fore It?

[Ron Young]

Do you provide water for your bees?

[Jeffzhear]

I can check three out of four....depends on which yard we're talking about...so, I will refrain from taking the poll...

[Ann]

We have neighbors who are less than thrilled with the bees, and they have a pool. :rolleyes: We provide water, but of course many of them prefer the pool!

[drobbins]

I'm with Ann
good politics with the neighbors:)
(Ann, a couple drops of lemon grass oil helps)

Dave

[Benton2569]

Dave, what does the lemon grass oil do?

My neighbors have a pool and I suspect that is where my bees are going. So far no complaints but I prefer it not get to that level.

[Jesse]

I have one yard near a pond my family owns - and the other yard is about 1/4 mile from lake michigan

[Chef Isaac]

Lemongrass oil attracts them to the water.

I provide no water to the bees. In all the yards, except for the mountains, there is plenty of water for them to go for.

[Madison68]

I keep front feeders on top of my hives to give them water. We are going through a severe drought where there is no standing water anywhere. I know that they only take it if there is no ready water available (they prefer ditch water). Plus it gives me an excuse to go to my hives after dinner to fill the feeders.Madison...

[indypartridge]

This spring I put a tub of water near my hives. I used some window screen and styrofoam so the screen floats on top of the water. I have never seen a single bee near it.

[Bob Bee]

I have a 5 gal. bucket under a dripping outside facet, the bucket has rocks in it and when it gets full it overflows. My bees are all over it, they seem to prefer running water. I guess thats why they sometimes get into my pool.
Bobby

[Troy]

Here in FL, dry land is the uncommon thing. Water is everywhere. All of my hives (3 locations) are within a 1/4 mi of a lake or large pond.

[Gary L]

I treat them just as I do the rest of my livestock. They have their own waterer which is filled daily. I never have had a problem with bees in my pool or in my other stock waterers.

[Aisha]

I have a creek behind my house, only 20 yards away from the hive, but it dries up in late summer.

Another aquifer-fed creek that never dries up is 50 yards away.

They ignore water I put out for them even if it's closer.

[samiyam318]

I have a creek and a small lake within about 1/4 mile of my hives. I provided water at first but they ignore it now; I'm assuming they went to one of the aforementioned sources.

[shawnwri]

Sometimes. Depends on how hot and dry it has been.

[BarreBee]

My bees live by a small lake. I've also seen them laying in the sun with there black & yellow striped two piece bathing suits. But I do see them drinking from a puddles on the dirt road after it rains.

[Benton2569]

Indy,

I tried the same thing and had the same result. I have rarely seen a bee near any water source that I put out (bird bath etc). Some folks recommend putting drops of lemongrass oil (not sure what it is or where you get it) in the water to attract them. I may try that since it has been so dry lately.

[Gary L]

Try putting a little Clorox in the water you provide. For some reason they like heavily clorinated water.

[kenpkr]

My hives used to be farther from a water source so during hot weather I would keep boardman entrance feeders filled with only water so that they could have a reliable source. Since moving where there is a stream within 50 yds, I no longer do this.

[FordGuy]

This spring I put a tub of water near my hives. I used some window screen and styrofoam so the screen floats on top of the water. I have never seen a single bee near it.

it is invisible to them. put a drop of lemongrass oil, or vanilla extract, or clorox in the middle and you will illuminate it to their noses!!!

[Bizzybee]

I use the plastic 1/2 gallon entrance feeders for water. Put it in the entrance and they will use it to the toon of about 1/2 gallon every other day. Some more.

[Chris]

I've left a dripping pipe on the veggie watering system that the bees just love. Close to the hive we've got a water try full of stones that is topped up daily by the same system and that is totally ignored by everyone but the ants.
We often get one or two bees or wasps coming to the hot tub to drink so perhaps there's something about chlorine ...... they're never a problem. Whenever it's dry here everything comes for a drink when you're using water but only the mossies bite.:(

[RonS]

I tried the Boardman entrance feeders filled with water. It did not work. The bees just were annoyed that I partially blocked their entrance. We provide water near the house for an assortment of wild animals--skunks, raccoons, possums, butterflies, wasps, cats and dogs. We quickly found that the girls also located the source. Now, we have a steady stream of my bees all day long. It is amazing how much they use. While it is a deep water dish, they use about 1/2 inch of it a day. By noon, we usually have to top it off. We place stones and sticks over the top of the water for better footing and rescue lines. It works and we enjoy watching them.