No, I’m not talking about Chinese food – bees don’t do Chinese. 🙂 But they do like pollen and nectar but since there’s not much of either around, we have to feed them what we got. So, I like this first shot because it captures the triple delight that the bees are getting served right now, as we endure the hottest weather of the year so far. There’s sugar water going in the internal feeder, pollen patty (soy-based pollen substitute + sugar water) and powdered sugar. They eat and drink all of it and we’ve been able to help them survive this brutal summer.
When I snapped the shot below, it was because I liked the way the Mesquite pods contrasted against their dark surroundings. I also liked the reflective surface of the water because it sharply contrasted all the other matte surfaces – powered sugar, wood, bee box. But when I loaded the pictures into Flickr, the picture made me think about all the recent folks who have contacted us for some advice on helping the bees by giving them a place to come for water. I tell them what Mark taught me – always give the bees a place on which to light so they may drink without drowning. I NEVER thought about that before I met my beekeeper but it makes sense so now we put little sticks or these pods in the feeders. People seem to appreciate us sharing that with them because it never occurred to them either. Always nice to share information with folks.
And here’s a bonus for you. I wasn’t planning on using this last shot but when I think bees and water, I always enjoy looking at a certain series of shots I snapped a couple of years ago in our backyard when we had a few hives back there. This is a galvanized pan that we had put under the water spigot to capture dripping water during lawn watering. Worked out well for the bees and I enjoyed watching them. They take the water back to the hives and use it somehow for cooling though I don’t exactly how they use it.
Gretchen Bee Ranch 