Honey Bee Wet Bar

[TheMasonicHive]

Hello everyone!

Over the last few years I think I've read Beekeeping for Dummies cover to cover a few times and there is one part in particular I'm curious about.

On page 53 the author talks about a honey bee wet bar, which is essentially a bucket with holes drilled around the top rim, filled with water, and styrofoam pellets for the bees to enter, land on, and collect water from.  This has brought a few questions I hope you can help me with.

1)  The author talks about filling it up...I can't imagine honeybees being able to drink a whole buckets worth before the water goes stagnant.  Am I wrong in that?

2)  I am placing my first hive next to two established hives.  If I make one of these to make sure my bees get fresh water, I cannot make any assurance whatsoever that bees from the other two colonies won't drink as well, and I know they will.  Will this cause any conflict between the hives?

3)  How often should I dump out the old water and replace it with new water?

Thank you!

[JP]

I would simply fill the bucket up. It doesn't matter if the water is fresh or not, in fact the bees would probably favor water with a little smell to it.

Don't worry over them fighting over water, only with feed.


...JP

[annette]

I tried this water feeder after reading the same book.  The bees never, ever went to it. It sat there for months on end. They found a place they like better even though this was closer to their home.

[bassman1977]

I've always seen them go after stagnant water.  I wouldn't bother with doing something like that anyway.  They'll find water...unless of course you live in the desert or something, then maybe.

[buzzbee]

Community water is fine. one reason to keep some water close more so than just for drinking is it shortens the trips workers need to make to cool the hive in summer and can get more of them back to foraging instead of trucking water.
The idea of the holes in the sides was so the water would not fill clear to the top and float out whatever was inside for the bees to walk on.
I have a small yard pond for the bees to gather water from.

[doak]

Go to your local scrap iron yard if you can't find one some where else. Old refrigerator
Get the shelf from the bottom that is above the bottom cooling trays/pans.
Put it on a stand knee high to waist high, (bottom side up), fill level with "pea" size gravel. Then fill with water. It will last several days with what the bees take and evaporation. Takes about 1/2 gallon to fill, leave the jug with the other half for 5 to 7 days later.  Take the jug, rinse, and fill for next go round. No stagnation. :)doak

[Davepeg]

We took the top of an old bird bath, threw some pebbles in it and put it back by the hives!  Seems to works just fine.
Of course with all this ****** rain we're been having, water is not a problem. Hope it's a bit drier this summer than last year.  Our yard was swampy all summer - never really dried out.

[Natalie]

I have tried several things for the bees' water including filling the bird bath with water and putting small stones it for them to stand on.
They fly several feet away from that one and go to my neighbor's bird bath, I mean swarming around it and mine is empty.
He is good about it but that many bees make him nervous since its close to where his screen house is and he hangs out there alot.
I added some lemongrass oil to my bird bath and turned his over for the day to get them back to mine and it worked but I need to do that early in the year now to train them to go there.
I have no idea why they choose the sources that they do.

[Hethen57]

I have tried giving my bees a water source near their hives, and they have a clean horse water trough nearby...but they insist on taking water which collects on an old tarp on the side of my house and drowing themselves in my hot tub...go figure  :roll:   I wouldn't waste my time with that contraption unless it is really dry where you live...