My bee dish is always filled with happily buzzing bees getting a drink. Bees are so so important, so everything you can do to improve their lives is one step to saving the planet. 1/3 of all crops require bees, so we need to do our part!
Many of the plantings in my yard are done because they make bees happy and happy bees make the world function! I'll share more about those plantings in future posts.
Bees need to drink water although if they land in a pond or puddle it's not safe! This bee fell off a plant and was quickly inundated by water beetles, a water carnivore. 😥
They need stones to stand on, you'll see in the photo above the bees are up on the rocks with little water, not near the 'deeper' water. And don't fear the bees. In this video I'm inches away & accidentally flung my leg on them!
If you have a pond!
My bee watering dish is fed from 1/4" irrigation drip line coming off the pond hose OR divert a slow trickle through some stones. My pond has small stones lining the waterfall and filling this dish. The dish with the slower flow gets way more action although there are always bees along the waterfall as well.
My dish is tipped forward slightly so that the water drips off the edge and back into the pond. Some bees love the edge, others prefer the rocks.
Don't have a Pond?
A shallow dish or Terracotta Planter Saucer like I've used. Fill with or rocks. Keep water just below the rock line and clean/change every couple days.
Have a drip irrigation system?
My first bee bath was a similar dish in my garden bed where I grow Miners lettuce. I added a slight slant to the dish and put a micro drip line to it. Each time the drip watering came on the bath filled up and the excess poured out onto the miners lettuce which needs to be damp. NOTE! Please do not use smooth marbles or those polished rocks or gems. Those are too smooth, they'll do better with REAL stone, just like nature! I tried both when I made my bee bath, they much preferred the rocks, they'd fall off the slippery marbles! Stones also don't get funky or extra slippery as fast as marbles do!
Happy Growing, Cooking & Eating!
XO Dana K
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