The Best Bee Watering Hole in Town

May 28, 2013

My good friend Shawn has named my first bee hive of 2013.  Introducing Queen Mab!  A lovely nod to Shakespeare.

Some of you may remember my frustration with the bees and water over the last two seasons.  No matter how beautiful the watering hole was (in my opinion), the bees insisted on finding their water elsewhere...probably in some poor child's swimming pool!  This year I was determined to keep the bees happy and drinking at home :).  I did notice that the bees tended to congregate at a cement rhubarb leaf bird bath last year. They loved the veins since they could drink from them without getting the rest of their bodies wet.  It happened that I had a round cement rhubarb leaf  exactly the same size of the water barrel that we had bought for the bees.  The water is pumped up over some rocks onto the leaf.  It pools into the centre of the leaf and then runs through the veins back into the barrel.  The bees love it!

Cement rhubarb leaf fits exactly into the barrel

 There are dozens of bees on this watering hole constantly.  It makes me smile to see them.

The veins of the leaf are perfect watering areas for the bees

So the bees have water.  They are collecting pollen and nectar from the flowering trees.  The bees are very busy and happy. It's a good start.