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Water Wagglers

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If you haven't seen a waggle dance then you're in for a treat.  Foragers will dance to attract potential mates toward water sources.  Put bee water stations out early in the season so that the location will be established when it gets hot in summer.  You'll be sure to see the waggle from a happy little bee.  @ Copyright 2021 iAmErika A study on "dirty water" by Bonoan et al (2016) was done to compare micronutrients bees sourced in fall or summer from pollen and water. Their study found that bees are generally attracted to sodium rich sources, and prefer water sources containing calcium, magnesium, and potassium when pollen is scarce.   Rachael E. Bonoan, Luke D. O'Connor, Philip T. Starks, Seasonality of honey bee (Apis mellifera) micronutrient supplementation and environmental limitation, Journal of Insect Physiology, Volume 107, 2018, Pages 23-28, ISSN 0022-1910, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinsphys.2018.02.002. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a...
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Bee Water Stations

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Bees cannot swim! The bee water stations used at UC Davis Honey Bee Haven keep the bee out of the water but allow them to drink from the water.  On boards bees lean into the grooves of running water while keeping their feet dry at the edge.   The bird bath station has several toothpick speared corks in it to keep corks from spinning while the bees drink.  Lastly irrigation hose is wound up into a bucket shape and filled with moist wood chips .   All of these are excellent was to help provide a consistent water source for bees.  Bees hate ants! Another way to keep the ants separated from your bees is to place some rocks in the center of your watering station.   The rocks act like remote islands free from predator s , so the bees can drink and relax in the same spot.  Between dawn and dusk you can get hundreds of bees visiting in summer so keeping the water resupplied will keep them coming back.  UC Davis Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Hav...
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