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Bees by your Pool

Why bees gather by water

All of the bees in the Sonoran Desert, Phoenix Valley need massive amounts of water throughout the summer.  During the fall months, they also store up honey and water to survive through the winter.  One major scene you will find is bees gathering by your pool, or pond gathering water.  In order to stop this, there are a few things you can do, but we also want to explain the ideal situations for bees so you have an understanding of why they choose your particular water source.

Bees cool their hive

Bees utilize water sources mainly to keep their hive cool throughout the extreme Arizona heat; however, the honey also has a certain amount of water content, and there are other food sources, such as Bee bread, Royal Jelly, and also for misting the air like an Evap cooler.  During the summer months, the hive will be maintained about 92 degrees even in hotter temperatures above 100 degrees

Internal temperature modulation is critical

The internal temperature of the hive needs to be maintained about 92 degrees because the wax of the honeycomb and the whole hive will melt otherwise.  This is the home to this superorganism and is very critical to helping maintain the bee population.  The baby bees or “brood comb” are also very sensitive to temperature and will simply die in extreme heat situations.  Simply do a Wikipedia search on bee hive temperature for more information.

Aggressiveness around water

Bees are usually very docile around water simply because they are only looking to gather water for their hive.  They typically only change their attitude when threatened or a person is in their flight path.  Bees make a “beeline” directly back to the hive in order to deliver the critical water resource to the hive, and they tend to waste as little energy as possible getting back home.

Safety tips

Easy safety tips are these:

1. If bees are coming at you, get inside of a building or car
2. If bees are near the pool simply move to another area of the pool
3. If a lot of bees seem to be congregating in a particular area, consult a bee expert removal company to assess the situation.

You can also Google Search Bee safety tips.

Bee prevention

The easiest way to prevent bees is to discourage them from getting what they want.  This is: food, water, shade, and a place to live.  That is essentially all they desire.

Bee Removal

If you need an Expert Bee Removal Company you should contact a Beekeeper who DOESN’T have a license.  This reasoning may seem counterintuitive but it’s not.  Most areas that require a license (especially all of Arizona) are only licenses for EXTERMINATORS.  Beekeepers generally don’t carry a license because it is a “license to kill”.  So if you call a Beekeeper or Bee Removal company ask them, “are you licensed?”  If they reply “yes” then hang up the phone and call the Best Bee Removal company Abello Bees in Phoenix Arizona.

Pictures of places bees will live

 

How to bee friendly to bees with your water

Purchase a small water source for the bees and keep clean water in it for them.  Keep it closer to the areas of your yard you don’t mind having bees congregate.  Also make certain that you don’t have any areas around the water source that bees may want to move in, like a brick wall, or your house! Bee safe and thank you for saving the bees.

Bee Problems in Scottsdale, and around the valley

Swimming pools are a necessity in the valley, along with lush green grass.  Bees are attracted to both places, especially in the summer, but how do we coexist with them without taking away their water source?  To answer that question let’s first tackle one of the biggest problems we face around the valley and realistically around the world is water shortages.  Are there ways to conserve good drinking water without harming the creatures and environment around us?  Well, there are easy simple fixes and then there are complex fixes that can leave the everyday person and businessman perplexed.  In Phoenix we run the risks of having a drought year it seems every year.   There are numerous videos on the subject, but let’s consider the simple fixes that everyone can implement.

General Maintenance helps

Checking leaking faucets, changing old hoses, and even installing grey water systems are a few of the simple ways to fix water waste in Arizona.  Some other ways to conserve water are to start implementing mulch systems around plants and trees that help maintain water longer near the roots of the trees throughout the hot months.

Fixing leaks

But how will fixing small water leaks around my house and business help keep bees away?  Bees are attracted to the water puddles that tend to form around leaking pipes and even pool houses.  Fixing all of these problems help to conserve water but also helps to keep bees away.  The closer a beehive is to a location with water, the easier they will be able to collect water for that beehive.  Unfortunately this can result in scared kids and scared house guests.

Kiddy pools

One of the biggest problems though is not a leaking pipe or spigot, it is simply the pool.  There are so many pools that just simply become unbearable with bee activity especially in Phoenix where the bee swarms can be gigantic.  The simplest most effective way to combat the bee problem near a pool is to simple create another alternative water source for the bees to collect water.  Just simply Google Search for a kiddy pool and you will find one of the cheapest simplest ways to get rid of bees around your pool.

Bee Activity and science

During the summer the beehive needs to be cooled to at least 92 degrees.  This helps keep the honey comb from melting and the entire hive simply being destroyed.  The worker bees fly out from the hive up to a 5 mile radius to find a water source.  Once a water source is found they communicate to the rest of the bee hive where the water is located.  Flying naturally takes a lot of energy for a bee especially if it is 5 miles away, so the closer a water source is located to the bee hive, the better.   Simply do a Wiki search on how much honey a bee uses in 1 day for energy to see how flying around a lot can become a problem for the hive as a whole.

Putting it together

As you may have guessed already from the last 2 paragraphs, purchasing a kiddy pool and placing it closer to where the bees are flying from is the easiest solution to keep bees from landing in a pool.  First, watch the bees leave after they have landed near the pool and had their fill of water.  Second, follow a few of them until you see them disappear out of sight.  Note- it will usually be the same direction, if bees fly in various directions you are likely dealing with multiple hives. After you have discovered the typical flight lines of the bees, place the kiddy pools closer to those directions on your yard.  Once the pool is placed you will now have a closer source for the bees.

Drain your pool

Do you want to drain your pool?  To some people, this will not be a good thing, but if you happen to be doing a backwash this would be an ideal time to do one.  The best way to completely stop bees from drinking water from their established source is to drain the swimming pool and allow some time for the bees to become accustomed to the new kiddy pools as water sources.   This again can be time consuming; however, it has been found to be very effective.

How to get rid of bees

In order to really take care of your bee issue, you should call a professional bee keeper.  In particular, one who specializes in the removal process.  Price ranges are crazy in this area and a lot of the “Beekeepers” as they call themselves are actually exterminators.  A typical extermination will cost up to $1000 if done properly by removing honey and comb and bees.  A Professional beekeeper on the other hand will typically charge half that price for a typical hive removal, and the bees are being saved not killed.

What a Beekeeper can do

Simply put a beekeeper will come out and watch where the bees go and “catch the beehive”; however, if the hive is on your property you can describe your situation to them and the best professionals can quote you over the phone.  For instance the Top Phoenix Bee Removal Company locally owned and operated can do just as described.  Abello Bees is the company that the link connects to and they have gained a very good reputation all over the valley the past few years.

Become a Beekeeper

One final solution we can highly suggest is to become a beekeeper yourself.  It is a fun hobby that can bring in honey, and even money!  Don’t let the thought that you are a normal guy or gal who lives in the city and has never had an inkling to start a crazy apiary stop you.  There are resources all over the internet and particularly on YouTube.  Again the Abellos have quite the channel that is fun and educational and also very helpful to new budding beekeepers.   Who wouldn’t want to learn first-hand how to help nature.

Thanks for reading

Thanks for reading my post, I hope you have thoroughly enjoyed this content and more importantly like the links and resources.  Feel free to reach out to me and learn more about me on my About- Us page.