BEES IN THE POND??

[Guest]

[Hey Jude]

Can anyone tell me why there are so many bees hovering around my pond today? They are small, appear to be honey bees.  My guess is, it's 95 degrees, hot, humid, no rain, and they are very thirsty, but I've never seen them swarming around the water and the rocks near the water like this.  We have a birdbath they are ignoring, and some are doing the kamakazi thing into the pond and drowning.  I couldn't even feed the fish much tonight cuz they were all around me.  They were fine, couldn't care less that I was there, but still, what's their issue? 

[koi keeper]

You need to stop eating all that honey when your out by the pond
I had a bee tree on my property and the honey bees got water from my ponds every day. Sometimes there would be hundreds of them around the ponds but they never did act aggressive toward us. I also had them doing the kamakazi thing, I netted to many to count last summer once they dried out in the sun they flew back to the tree.

[Hey Jude]

Yeah, that's what they are doing, they are drinking, then flying away.  Wonder if they are using it in their nests, or if they're just plain thirsty.  Your such a good little Pooh Bear to net them out of the pond.  I wanted to do that, but there were so many around I didn't want to intrude!

[koi keeper]

The bees that are coming to the pond are drinking water and carrying water back to the hive. Honey bees in our area were almost wiped out by mites, The DNR said I had the only bee tree they knew of in this county. I'm sure there are others around they just didn't know where they were at the time. I tried to rescue as many as I could out of the ponds but there are still some that drowned.

[Hey Jude]

Well, no wonder my water level keeps dropping - and I thought it was just the 94 degree heat LOL!

[koi keeper]

You should put up a sign, no drinking allowed.

[Hey Jude]

Yeah, only frogeritas..., and guys with coolers of beer...

[Commando]

I've had the same thing for years. I thought they were after the Hyacinths but after they died off, they still cover the waterfall. No aggression just drinking to carry it back to the hive. Bees are having a tough time now and without them, we die because we need them for pollination of our crops. Let's hope they make it.

[Hey Jude]

Yep, I'll just keep filling the pond

[*Lisa]

Dont they need water to make honey combs to put the honey in?

[Hey Jude]

Not sure what the water is being used for, but I know they are desperate for it.  I was working around the pond, around the bees most of today.  My bees are very well behaved, we coexist.  They let me work, and I let them drink.  I was so close to their "watering hole" trying to trim some of the pond plants, that they were flying all around me with no problem.  One even flew right into me, and I swear he said "Excuse me"

[Weez]

so what I read is that "in hot weather, bees cool the colony much like your swamp or evaporative cooler does - by evaporating off drops of water. Bees collect water and spread it throughout the colony in droplets. Then they fan the air to creat an air stream over the water drops, causing the water to evaporate and thus lowering the nest temperatures."

Hope that helps, now I have to go and feed the pond dwellers! 

[Hey Jude]

Thank you weez - that was most informative!  Now go buzz off, and BEE good.

[Weez]

no, YOU buzz off!! 

and you're welcome 

[Hey Jude]

I told my husband what you found about the bees, and he said what smart little bees we have!  (And polite, too, don't forget polite!)  They're the bees knees.