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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] Feeding wild bees during Winter - how to do it?

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  • From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Feeding wild bees during Winter - how to do it?
  • Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2010 23:45:13 -0400

On 10/13/2010 7:36 PM, Kelly Simmons wrote:
Hi Lawrence - The best source of water for bees is one that is
continually replenished, if possible. A spring, a dripping faucet, a pet
or livestock watering system that gets cleaned and changed regularly, a
bird bath or fountain that is tended at some interval and not
chlorinated etc.

I can provide clean well water. I think maybe a rainwater collection tank with gravity feed to a shallow pool, relenished with well water as needed, might be a good way to go.

Bees can get water from foul, stagnant sources, but it
isn't their preference and isn't good for them.

I have three ponds, two of which always have water in them and are covered thickly with duckweed, which purifies the water, especially near the surface, I would assume. Can bees land on mats of duckweed to drink? I'd like to get that on video :-) Water lillies would be perfect for this purpose.

Bees cannot take water from straight sided containers (like a bucket)
without risk of drowning. If this is the container you have, you can
float thick, wide sticks of wood on the top to give them a landing pad.

I can set this up and maintain it easily. Will do.

They prefer a dry edge with shallow approach and prefer rocks or stone
as a landing, as the capillary action of water on the rocks, cement or
stone means they don't have to actually get too close to the water to
take a drink.

That I can easily do also. That would be a nice garden project. Having mint, comfrey, lemonbalm and other herbs growing in beds nearby would be a plus.

Whatever source you have, expect to see some occasional
drowning. Remember that the important thing is the survival of the hive
and not each individual bee. (Very hard for humans to really get) They
only live about 6 weeks anyway.

That's useful information. Thanks.

A water source close to their nest (within a few hundred yards, if
possible) is ideal and will keep them from bothering neighbors who may
have a hot tub or swimming pool. It's far more critical in urban
settings for it to be close. If it is too much of a hassle to locate or
tend one that is close, and you have a water source that works but is
further away, then I would tend that, and not worry about proximity. If
they need the water, they will find it.

I have no idea where their hive is. My land is mostly open fields but my neighbors have plenty of acreage in hundreds of acres of large thick hardwood forests where there are probably dead trees with cavities where they might nest and plenty of water courses wet weather, springs and shallow pools. A large river is only a half mile away and there are many ravines and wet weather streams that feed it that are within 1000 feet of my property.

Bees use the water primarily as a cooling air conditioner. They take up
water and bring it back to the hive, where the water, combined with
their wing-fanning, helps cool the hive on hot summer days.

I will be sure they are provided with adequate water next year. I neglected them this year and we had two periods of severe drought.
Still they can be seen by the hundreds during the warm days we have been
having lately, feeding mostly on the little daisies. I hear they like goldenrod also and I have plenty of that, ragweed too. Here are pix of these daisies and a few bees foraging:
http://ecolandtech.blogspot.com/2010/10/wild-honeybees-feeding-on-late-summer.html
Or individually:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_rMYq94CW184/TLZ5LhGg5II/AAAAAAAAAC0/XPTuggD1hS4/s1600/IMG_1595.JPG
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_rMYq94CW184/TLZ5UbpZLbI/AAAAAAAAAC4/dAtmPsvphE0/s1600/IMG_1607.JPG

Bees are most vulnerable in the Spring (especially cold, wet ones, or
ones with a late killing frost that kills blossoms, and most especially
following a long, hard, very cold winter) or during hot summer drought
conditions when plants can refuse to put out nectar in their blossoms
for weeks at a time. Those might be times that feeding could be helpful.
I generally counsel against it, as we don't want poodle-bees who are
dependent on us, but it can sometimes be the compassionate thing to do,
if things are really harsh.

They should have plenty of forage on my 6 acre biointensive market farm.
It has been extensively developed with ponds, swales, terraced gardens, fallow fields with enormous diversity of weeds and beds with ditches between that hold water for a time after rainfall. I let the wild plants develop fully. The ones that are real weed problems are either
beyond controlling manually or will soon diminish from competition with stonger,less problematic weed adjoining them and encroaching on their space; such plants as Johnson grass, goldenrod, daisies, ragweed, foxtail millet, lespedeza, ground ivy, pokeberry, various mystery
plants and many more that I have not inventoried yet plus eleagnus spreading nearby at the edges of the woods. And there are many tulip poplars in the region. They will have my vegetable's blooms for forage also and those plants will be watered. I will also plant annuals, perennials and herbs just for the bees.

Your land sounds lovely. Glad to count you among the bee guardians of
the earth.

Thanks for the education, Kelly. I will do a great more for my bees this year and every one thereafter, especially now that I know there is a good hive or two nearby. I am in luck on the pollination scene.

Thanks again,

Lawrence




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