Water For Bees

Shortly after somebody moved into a house across the canyon from us, we noticed a rectangular reddish box sitting on top of what looks like a carport or covered patio.

Red Boxes?--Beehives!

A neighbor, who apparently owns a pretty powerful pair of binoculars, told us that there were several  boxes and that they were beehives.  That explained the phenomenon we had been seeing of numerous honey bees clustered around the edge of our bird bath, apparently drinking the water and, unfortunately, frequently drowning in the water.

Bees In The Water

It had never occurred to me that honeybees would drink water, but apparently they use water to cool the hive on hot days, and to thin honey to feed to larva.  A strong hive can use up to a quart of water on a hot day.

Bees are extremely important pollinators, so we're glad to know they're in the area and hope that the hives do well, although it's distressing to us to find so many of them in the birdbath, which is not really shallow enough for them to get water safely.

Aside from having to fish dead bees out of the water, their presence seems to be discouraging the birds from using the birdbath, so I may have to construct something that will make it easier for the bees to get water without drowning.  One ingenious idea from City Boy Hens is a "landing platform" for them that floats on top of water in a bucket:  http://cityboyhens.com/2014/05/01/making-a-water-source-for-your-honeybees/.

If they keep coming, I may have to try this.