OK is this "normal"?

[zzen01]

I have about 30 or 40 bees gathering around my Hot Tub. Is this normal. They have never before gathered around it before. Just wondering.

[AllenF]

Bees in the hot tub?  Maybe they are having a party.   Long as they don't drink too much :-D

Are they using the tub far a water source?   Or did any "sweets" get spilled there over the holiday that they may be eating?

[Hethen57]

My bees were intent on making bee soup in my hot tub this past spring, until we got into the honey flow.  They love the chlorine smell and crawl through any crevice to take a final dip...  I have lots of open water sources that are closer to the hive, so it is not out of necessity, they prefer the hot tub....it really became a nuisance, but stopped in June. 

[slacker361]

If I had to fly as far as those little bees do, I would be using the hot tub also. Wow I read that a bee will collect 1/12th a teaspoon of honey in the bees life time. That is just mind boggling to me

[JP]

Yes, it is normal, but of course not particularly desirable. Of course I wouldn't mind them being there next to me but people who aren't into bees probably would freak out.

You will need to set up other water sources and see if you can train them to go to those.

If they are insistent you will need to cover the tub for some time period until they adjust to a new water source.


...JP

[AllenF]

I did read a blog once where a person trained the bees not to go to the pool.  Early spring they sprayed deet around the edge of the pool and provided other water sources.  The bees were trained that way.  They passed on the info on new water source and not of the pool to the newer bees.

[tecumseh]

I am NOT a hot tub kind of guy but I have been informed that a lot of folks add fragrances to hot tub which then attracts the bees fairly quickly.

fragrant lotions or oil would I suspect accomplish much the same thing.

[AllenF]

So how much honey was used in the hot tub over the weekend?

[Hethen57]

Since we are still on this topic, I will share the incident that nearly killed my family's enjoyment of the hot tub last Spring.  We hadn't used it in a few weeks and my wife got in one night and was relaxing in the dark.  Then she noticed some black stuff floating, then she noticed black stuff all over the bottom...at which point she realized that she was soaking in bee soup and I heard loud screams and came running.  There were thousands of bees in there...floating, on the bottom, everywhere...I had to drain the thing, change all the filters, etc., but everyone is real cautious about using it now.  My cover had a gap they could get through, so I got a new cover and haven't had a problem since.

[Hemlock]

There are 2 seeps and 1 creek in my back yard.  Yet for the first 2 years the bees would TRY to get water from the hot tub; crawling around the edges as you have mentioned.  Thankfully, they left it alone this year. 

[bulldog]

maybe they just like the adventure of it all. i have a modified chicken waterer right in front of their hive and they still insist on getting a drink from behind the "pee tree". maybe they just like finding it on their own ?

[hazmat]

Are they wearing little bikinis?


...bee-kinis...?

[slacker361]

Bee - kini's     :lau: :lau: :lau: :lau:

[AllenF]

Bee - kini's, that's good.   You should have seen what the drones were wearing.

And a pee tree?   We just evenly water the whole backyard.   Thank goodness for the wood fence.

[hardwood]

Isn't every tree a pee tree?

Scott

[AllenF]

My 4 year old son couldn't hit a tree even if he had to.  Likes to spread it around.

[melliferal]

Now you can tell your friends that you shared your hot tub with 40 females...