One of my goals is to be as good a neighbor as possible. I oriented the bee's flight line in between my house and another neighbor. One of the reasons I aimed them this way is because our other neighbor has a pool. Growing up, I always remember bees being attracted to pool water. They never bothered or stung anyone . . we would always just flip them onto the concrete and they would dry off and fly away.
Thus, I bought a mixing tub for $5 at Home Depot for the watering source. Since the sides were slippery, I added two bricks and large rock that you can see below. I was worried that the piece of wood was treated, thus I removed it.
Thus, I bought a mixing tub for $5 at Home Depot for the watering source. Since the sides were slippery, I added two bricks and large rock that you can see below. I was worried that the piece of wood was treated, thus I removed it.
I moved the tub to a few different locations because I never saw bees visiting my pool, thus I did some research . . .
One thing I read was they seem to be attracted to dirty water. One suggestion was to add a towel and some bleach (simulates chlorine that bees love so much). I also added some salt for minerals, and even a little sugar on the towel to sweeten the deal some. This still was not good enough . . . then I heard to spray lemon scented Pledge on the ground around the tub . . . THIS was the magic that finally lured the bees. I supposed you could use lemongrass oil as well.
I also used some of my swarm lure that consisted of lemongrass oil and beeswax. Within a few minutes, the first bee arrived. (but it was the lemon scented Pledge that really made the difference).
Later, while checking on my drip irrigation for the garden, I noticed they seem to like my "button" drippers (hard to see below, but it is hanging on at the 6 o'clock position.
Another bee getting a sip from my drip irrigation
we're trying these things. Our neighbor across the road from us has a pool and they have bees in the pool and we have bees, so we are putting out some extras to see, if indeed they are our bees, to keep them home. We've had bees for nearly five years and this is the first incident. I don't know if the drought has dried up some other their other watering spots. Good luck.
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