# How to stop bees from drinking pool water



## MzzBee (Apr 22, 2015)

My bees keep going to my neighborhood pool for water, and I don’t want them going there. I have a small plastic water container that I refill with water from the hose every other day. I placed it a few inches away from the entrance and put a large rock in the water. Do you guys have any advice on encouraging them to drink my water instead going to the pool? I had this problem last year, but I think it’s worse this year due to the hotter weather.


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## deknow (Jul 17, 2006)

Bring them to the beach. :lookout:


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## bbruff22 (Dec 24, 2013)

Would a hive front feeder with water only be worth a try? I no longer use them for feeding, but I wonder about water only. If it's a stupid idea, we'll know soon. I've got a pond by my hives, so this has never been an issue for me personally.


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## David LaFerney (Jan 14, 2009)

It's a lot easier to keep them from starting than to make them stop. A waterer with sponges or wet towels soaking it in will help - that way they can land on and drink from the towel or sponge without having to approach the water.

If you NEVER leave anything at all floating in the pool it helps to discourage them from drinking from it, because in a typical pool they have to land on the vertical side of the pool and approach the water head down - which they apparently would rather not do. But once they are in the habit of going to the pool it's hard to break.

We have a pool which is about 200 feet from 50 hives and we have no problem with bees in the pool at all - because we never leave *anything* in the water, and they have other places to drink.


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## bdouglas (Dec 18, 2014)

I have a large saucer like those that are under a flower pot partially filled with small rocks and water. I always have 6 or 8 bees using it and its about 50 yards from my neighbors pool and 50 yards from the hive.


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## MzzBee (Apr 22, 2015)

David LaFerney,
Thank you for the advice. Sadly, my neighbourhood pool has a diving board and that is where they go. Where would you recommend putting the sponges?


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## MzzBee (Apr 22, 2015)

bbruff22,
Interesting idea. I may try that. Thank you for the suggestion.


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## beesohappy (Jun 3, 2009)

I've read in a previous thread folks using anise oil to help attract them to the new watering hole.


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## David LaFerney (Jan 14, 2009)

MzzBee said:


> David LaFerney,
> Thank you for the advice. Sadly, my neighbourhood pool has a diving board and that is where they go. Where would you recommend putting the sponges?


Where ever it is convenient for you to keep them wet.


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## Metropropolis (Feb 15, 2012)

David LaFerney said:


> It's a lot easier to keep them from starting than to make them stop.


Word.

Unfortunately, your neighbor provided your bees with water earlier in the season than you did.

Resolving the situation will require draining his pool, while continuing to provide your own water.

Word will get out on bee-twitter, and the water source you provide will become the new hot-spot for water.

As soon as they latch on to yours, they will forget about his, and he can refill his pool without concern.


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## Barhopper (Mar 5, 2015)

I've used boardman style feeders with pool water in them. It seem to help and made me feel better


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## thehackleguy (Jul 29, 2014)

I'm not sure if this would work, but when not in use I wonder is a large fan blowing over the diving board would help deter them....I'm talking like a barn fan. Something like this: http://www.farmandfleet.com/product...y0h9RxTuFaDE-rDSoLg06u0Ca5Ngm9vAaExoCxCfw_wcB


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## Boykins (Nov 5, 2011)

I am also having the same problem. There is a large pond closer than the pool. I personally think that they are there for the salt. My wife doesn't like it very much, but me and the kids like watching them. The kids have also learned to handle the girls because we have to do a lot of water rescues.


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## gezellig (Jun 11, 2014)

I was afraid my neighbors pool would attract my bees, I was afraid to ask, "don't ask, no hear", but as a deterrent I put a birdbath about 25 feet from my hives, placed a drop of lemon grass oil to initially attract them, filled the birdbath with soil stained rocks, some mosses, a few leaves, even a handful clump sized weeds I just pulled up with The dirt, and the bees started using it. Have had no problem for two years. I even placed a second in another part of the yard this spring with the same attractants and they use it also. 
After they were attracted to it, I've removed the weeds, and leaves, just rocks and misses now. 
As a side note, to keep it from going dry while on vacation. I bought a galvanized two gallon drink dispenser at Walmart, placed it in the center, and it has a turn faucet that i adjust to just a drip and it'll last about a week.


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## libhart (Apr 22, 2010)

Just an "I think" kind of post so take it with a grain of salt....

Bees aren't great at using water sources "just outside" the hive, but they don't want to go very far either. That 50-75ft distance seems to work well.

Also, bees don't want the nice clean water that's being put in your waterer. Yes, they like pool water but not because it's clean but because it's got all kinds of minerals in it. They like the super mucky stuff. I once had a tubtrug half full of used potting soil. Was left in the rain so the old soil was saturated with water. They loved it. 

I'd suggest you put a bird bath type thing 50ft away and try gezellig's mix of leaves/soil stained rocks, etc. Or just some scoops of potting soil. Don't worry if it looks like mud. They'll love it if they find it. Couple years ago I bought an old wooden trough, lined it with thick pond liner, filled it w/a mix of peat/soil, and flooded it so it's almost like a bog. Keeps the bees very happy.


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## mathesonequip (Jul 9, 2012)

try a bird bath with a couple of rocks in it. add a few drops of chlorox. for some reason bees like chlorine. it disipates quickly, so you may have to refresh daily till the bees give up on the pool. bees also like dirty water.


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## MzzBee (Apr 22, 2015)

Thank you everyone for the very helpful advice! I will be trying some of these ideas soon.


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## jjohnsind (Apr 24, 2014)

I was going to make a comment about bleach too. When I started, the bees seemed slow to take to the top feeder. Slow enough that it started to ferment. I heard about adding bleach to the syrup to extend the life and the bees seem to be more attracted to it (going through a gallon every 4 days as opposed to a gallon every few weeks). I heard about bees loving pools, I wonder if they somehow are attracted to the chlorine? I put about a third a capful to a gallon of syrup, maybe trying this on your new water source to see if the theory holds true?


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## jbeshearse (Oct 7, 2009)

Spray an insect repellant around the perimeter. Also you can run a sprinkler continuously for a couple of days to discourage them and hopefully make them find your friendlier water source


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