Water Supply

[dwbicefam]

I will be receiving my first bees in a few weeks, and as I am getting set up I have a question about water supply. My neighbor has a pool, so I know I need to be very careful to keep the bees supplied with water so as to keep them out of the pool-we're good friends with the neighbors and I'd like to stay that way! Mercifully they won't open the pool until I have the bees settled. We live near a small wetland area, so I need to be mindful of standing water so I don't have an infestation of mosquitoes; any suggestions for keeping a good supply of water that won't stagnate? I will have to carry the water from the house, we don't have a water connection that far back in the yard.
Thanks,
Cheryl

[Jacobs]

Galvanized poultry watering units that take standard size mason jars. Two are whole and I put rocks in the base for the bees to land on. One I have cut away a part of the side so it will empty into the pan with rocks. I cut screen and put it between the base and the jar because the bees will go under the base and get trapped in the jar if the water runs out. There are easier set ups, but this works for me in my back yard. You will want to have the water out before you get your bees--once they fix on a location it is difficult to get them to change.

[dwbicefam]

Thanks, I remember you mentioning something like this during class, but I couldn't remember the exact set up. The picture is really helpful. How many jars for two hives? I'll change it out every morning. The good news is that I have one already because we have chicks, and they will outgrow it by the time I receive my bees!

[Jacobs]

This set up supplies about 7-8 hives. At times it gets crowded, so you would rather have too much capacity rather than too little. In hot weather with bees, evaporation, and birds coming to drink, I sometimes have to add water in the afternoon with three quart jars. I use the plastic mayonaise jars until I am certain that it will not get below freezing. I tend to forget to bring them in on cold nights and have lost glass jars to freezing, expanding, and breaking.

In the photo you can see that one of the jars is a glass half gallon mason jar with the standard lid (not wide mouth). This really does give extra capacity as long temperatures are above freezing. Wally located a few of these jars for me last year. I can use them for jar feeders or waterers, but I haven't seen them around much. I think he found them at one of the flea markets he goes by.

[Wally]

Still have a few. They are nice to have around.

PS. They are likely to survive a light freeze, too. They are called canning and freezing jars. They should hold down to 0 F.

[dwbicefam]

I have many quart jars and at least one half gallon that my husband found somewhere, we'll keep our eyes peeled for another.
Thanks,
Cheryl

[Jacobs]

My bees have been VERY heavily into the water the last couple of days. This is not really the kind of weather where they are gathering it for hive temperature control, so I am taking it as a good sign that brood rearing for over-winter bees is progressing even after the use of MAQS for mite treatments. I'm going to try and confirm this tomorrow afternoon as I remove the remainder of the strips from my hives--if robbing activity/frenzy does not get too bad.

[Jacobs]

On Christmas day, the bees were flying and going to the water in large numbers. I suspect they are thinning out stored honey for consumption, but some may be using water for brood rearing. I'll be tipping the backs of hives to get an idea of weight and waiting for a sunny 50°F+ day to do a quick pop of the tops and check cluster locations. Flying bees use more honey than clustering bees and I may need to put stored honey frames on some of my hives.

[Jacobs]

For the last 4-5 days the bees have been taking more water than I have ever seen them consume. Most of my hives are not as strong as they were last summer and it makes me wonder if they are trying to do a major brood build up to make up for the poor summer and to have lots of over winter brood.