I’ve had gardens, lived on a couple of small farms and been pretty outdoorsy….but never realized that Honey Bees would be interested in a birdbath.
My birdbath is concrete so it’s easy for them to sit on the side and drink, as this one is.
From around 10 or 11 am, I have a steady stream of Honey Bees coming in.
I don’t remember seeing them before this year, so perhaps we have a hive nearby. My neighbor has 3 hives, but they also have a pond so I doubt they would be coming this far. I am probably 2 miles from their hives.
So…..if you have a garden and want the Honey Bees to hang around….maybe a nice birdbath in the middle would be a good source of water for them.
You can see this little guy drinking it up.
I’ve never seen more than a dozen at a time, but they are continually coming and going until almost dark.
I don’t know if they would bother the birds…but I have another watering hole available for them, in the shade, where it can stay fairly cool.
I once knew a man who sold honey. He had several barrels full of water close by that the bees would line up around the rim to drink. Helen
ReplyDeleteSomething I've never seen before; bees taking a drink like that. Great captures Carol.
ReplyDeleteI guess all God's creatures need water!!! The wasps and bees like to visit our hummingbird feeder.
ReplyDeleteGreat macros of the honey bees. I've seen them floating in swimming pools, guess that was a little too hard. Or maybe the chorline got them.
ReplyDeleteGaelyn...I didn't think of the chorline...I have a well, and it's sulphur water.(we don't drink it). I know the sulphur springs in Saratoga NY are a big draw for medicinal qualities in it..My friends with the bee hives also have a pond with a sulphur spring..maybe that's what makes their honey so good.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, they love to drink out of my birdbath! I've had thousands of them, as I do every year, on my Autumn Joy sedum. They are so beautiful and they never try to sting you like those nasty yellow jackets!
ReplyDeleteI haven't noticed them until this summer,we haven't much rain here.I have seen hundreds of them on there,don't want to harm them. Birds will not go near it if they are there,which is all day long,What do i do to get rid of them without harming them??
ReplyDeleteI haven't noticed them until this summer.I live in Indiana ,not much rain here this year.They come in droves when I put fresh water in the bird bath and hang around most of the day.I don't want to harm them but the poor birds don't have a chance
ReplyDeleteDon't get rid of them...set up a watering place for them. Evidently you have a hive nearby and they need a lot of water during the hot weather. Try a large bowl with a sponge floating in it for them to sit on....set it up near the bird bath..once they start using it......then move it a few feet every 15 minutes. I did that with a chicken waterer when I had them getting water off the boat.
ReplyDeletePam...I saw this idea on someone elses blog: http://www.waldeneffect.org/blog/Building_a_bee_waterer/
ReplyDeleteThey used marbles, but you could use large gravel in a large pan. They just need something to sit on so they don't drown.
Thanks for the comments above. We have a garden next to our deck with hummers, blue bird boxes, flowers, bird bath and across the highway, eight honey bee hives that we got just this year. Due to the above comments, I will be placing a large water pan filled with rocks over there closer to the hives. Maybe the birds will return.
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