Not even out of the winter months.

Shawn · February 11, 2009, 12:36:37 PM

So I let out my working dog and saw her going nuts by the water bowl. She was biting, clawing, and jumping. Ran outside to see what she was doing and found the water bowl was covered with bees. SHe was trying to catch as many as she could hold on in her mouth and then spit them back out. I had to rescue some of hte bees she must of put into the water. Its on February :shock: been in the 70's and the bees are going crazy, good thing. The feral hive that I posted about is still doing great and building comb. I talked to some people yesterday and they said their backyard was covered with bees flying around, not my bees :roll:. I told them their kids probably had koolaid or soda out there. Another guy told me be had spilled some corn and the mill and bees started flying around it and landing on it. Maybe they were flys under cover :roll: To make a long post short, we need water, snow, and cold weather or we'll have a bad summer.

WayneW · February 11, 2009, 01:22:18 PM

:) It was nice here too. After over a month of subnormal temps, and considering my hive looked a bit weak going into the winter.

Checked them this afternoon, and they were buzzing about, doing their business of hauling away the casualties of the bad months.

It's a great feeling knowing they got through, and have a healthy housekeeping behavior. :)

doak · February 11, 2009, 09:11:17 PM

Early bird gets the worm.
Early bee gets the nectar. :roll: :)doak

Shawn · February 20, 2009, 12:23:39 PM

I was wondering if you can make a bee go to water? Like I posted above the bees continue to go to the dogs water dish and either drown or get bitten inhalf. I took the dish out close to the hive where the dogs cant get to it but the bees wont drink from it. Same dish but with some cork in it so they can get out if they slip. I put out a water dish, metal one, for the dogs and the bees are going to it. I moved it twice now and they keep finding it. Any suggestions?

Bennettoid · February 20, 2009, 02:35:46 PM

Quote from: Shawn on February 20, 2009, 12:23:39 PM
I was wondering if you can make a bee go to water? Like I posted above the bees continue to go to the dogs water dish and either drown or get bitten inhalf. I took the dish out close to the hive where the dogs cant get to it but the bees wont drink from it. Same dish but with some cork in it so they can get out if they slip. I put out a water dish, metal one, for the dogs and the bees are going to it. I moved it twice now and they keep finding it. Any suggestions?

The bees have learned where the Dog's water dish is and now will focus on that area for water. If you want them to go to a new source you need to remove the Dog's dish all together.

Understudy · February 20, 2009, 06:18:38 PM

We had a similar problem. I put in a bird bath and changed the location of the dog bowl. Problem solved.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

Shawn · February 21, 2009, 12:24:51 AM

Good idea understudy! :)

Shawn · February 28, 2009, 11:11:52 AM

I took away the dogs water dish the same day and found I also had to get rid of the garden hose because they were going to the faucet. After a week the bees are finally going to "their" water dish.

poka-bee · February 28, 2009, 12:56:56 PM

Now wouldn't it be nice if some humans could be trained so easily... :evil: :roll: I always think.."if my tropical fish can learn to go to 1 spot in the aquarium to be fed...." J