Hello all. Been a month since setting up and all seems well, bringing in pollen and frequent orientation flights.
There is one confusing thing I could use some feedback on... I live on a small lake with a community lake association including a small sandy shared beach area. Hive exit is facing away from beach and all major traffic flies away from beach towards a wooded area to forage. Its fun to watch them. However, since I've installed the hive I've noticed some honey bees sucking water from the sand near water line at the shared beach. There seems to always be just about 10 bees hanging around the 25-30 foot sandy water line. The bees bother nobody using beach, but sooner or later I fear someones going to get accidentally stung when going to swim. Won't be able to prove it was my bee who stung, but its still a worry. Neighbors tell me not to worry, but that may change if their kid gets stung.
Will a small wet sandbox close to the hive possibly be a more convenient watering hole and possibly stop some bees from hitting the beach or is this a pipe dream? Any ideas to divert them from the beach would be appreciated.
Should I think about finding the bees a new home and chalk it up as a learning experience?.... I never thought about them going to the beach to drink, there is so much other lake for them to drink from in the direction they exit the hive. All I read was being close to a water source is a good thing :scratch: .... its true that bees don't read books.
Opinions or ideas appreciated, I really don't want to get rid of the bees. But I also don't want to be a bad neighbor and as the population of the hive grows I'd imagine more and more bees may start heading to the beach to drink.... after this post, I need a drink.
GBK
There is one confusing thing I could use some feedback on... I live on a small lake with a community lake association including a small sandy shared beach area. Hive exit is facing away from beach and all major traffic flies away from beach towards a wooded area to forage. Its fun to watch them. However, since I've installed the hive I've noticed some honey bees sucking water from the sand near water line at the shared beach. There seems to always be just about 10 bees hanging around the 25-30 foot sandy water line. The bees bother nobody using beach, but sooner or later I fear someones going to get accidentally stung when going to swim. Won't be able to prove it was my bee who stung, but its still a worry. Neighbors tell me not to worry, but that may change if their kid gets stung.
Will a small wet sandbox close to the hive possibly be a more convenient watering hole and possibly stop some bees from hitting the beach or is this a pipe dream? Any ideas to divert them from the beach would be appreciated.
Should I think about finding the bees a new home and chalk it up as a learning experience?.... I never thought about them going to the beach to drink, there is so much other lake for them to drink from in the direction they exit the hive. All I read was being close to a water source is a good thing :scratch: .... its true that bees don't read books.
Opinions or ideas appreciated, I really don't want to get rid of the bees. But I also don't want to be a bad neighbor and as the population of the hive grows I'd imagine more and more bees may start heading to the beach to drink.... after this post, I need a drink.
GBK