Bees swarming for water
Mysterious Traveler
Yesterday every bee in the county was swarming every water
source in the yard. The ones on the stock tank were falling
in so I added enough water to make it easier for them to
drink. I saved a lot from drowning.
There's some tough woody weeds in the yard the bees like to
pollinate, they swarm those too.
Are Verona mites big enough to see on bees without a magnifying
glass?
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Nieuwtje
No, try varroa mites...
http://www.vkblog.nl/static/pub/mm/tempest/6429/Image/varroamijt06b.jpg
:-)
--
Moi
Paul
What God wants, God gets...
Mysterious Traveler
Thanks
Are those Bee larva in the picture? If not, then they can affect
other species of insect?
--
My God's better than your God
Mike
those are bee pupa.
You can see varroa without a magnifying glass.
As far as is known varroa are seen on other insects but need honey
bees to reproduce.
That would depend on who your god is. I believe your sign. needs cap
adjustment. "My God is better than your god".
Poster
Mysterious Traveler <mysteriou...@dot.net> wrote:
> 102 degrees yesterday, and 104 predicted for today.
>
> Yesterday every bee in the county was swarming every water
> source in the yard. The ones on the stock tank were falling
> in so I added enough water to make it easier for them to
> drink. I saved a lot from drowning.
A bit late to the party, but...
If you want to make an effort to "lifeguard" them, toss a few chunks of
wood in the tank - say two or three 3-4 inch long chunks lopped off a
2x4 (but NOT treated... that stuff is toxic to both bees and livestock).
Serves two purposes: "safe landing zone" so they can set down and drink
without having to "tightrope" the edge (and/or fall in if the level is
too low to reach easily) and "rescue float" if/when they DO fall in -
Surface tension and the so-called "meniscus effect" will almost always
tend to pull them either to the edge (where they likely have a hard time
getting a grip to crawl out due to either just plain wetness, or more
likely, the almost unavoidable slime that grows on all but the most
compulsively scrubbed stock tanks) or to the floating blocks, where they
can easily crawl out and dry off.