I think I have the perfect water supply solution. Not only am I producing beautiful Chinese Water Chestnuts for the two of us to enjoy in our meals, I’m also providing an easy to access water supply for my bees. The bees seem to drink the water that comes up the reeds via capillary action. I haven’t seen a dead bee in the water yet.
Very cool. I am going to give it a go. My girls will have a second water source and we will have something different in the garden than our neighbors. Thanks for the video.
Hi @Cowgirl, you’re welcome. By the time winter comes, it will be time to harvest . I haven’t figured out if I’ll be able to save the guppies. Since putting them in, we haven’t even spotted one.
Hi @K26kv, you’re also welcome. Let me know if you want to plant some next spring, I’ll have some spares to share.
Bees favorite water sources:
Leaking septic field:
“Horse puddles”
Stagnant standing water:
Neighbor’s pool:
The key is to get them a reliable water source set up BEFORE they need it. Here it is, April 1st 48 degress F and the bees are taking water. So for me, in New Jersey, I like to have water set up by March 1 at the latest. Now I just use 5 gallon buckets with anything that floats and that lasts 2-3 days in the summer.
found mine like to drink from the leak in the concrete rain water tank.
Jeff,
Thanks so much for the offer for some water chestnuts to plant this spring. After watching the raccoons cleaning up the worms they dug up in our other water feature I am worried they might get into a water chestnut garden so I am going to pass on this idea until I have the time to set up an electric fence to surround the muddy pond. I apologize for not sending a reply sooner. I have been nursing my other half who had neck surgery at the end of January and life is finally getting back to normal in our home.
It has been a wet one but it is spring now here in Seattle. My girls have been out gathering pollen even on the rainy days and we have had a lot of them this year. I am excited about my second year with bees and to getting back to reading all the stuff I missed over the last little bit on the flow hive forum.
Take care,
K26kv
I remember my dogs always liked to drink from the bottom of the pot plants. I think I read the roots purify the water, or maybe I hypothesized, can’t remember.
Could be similar with the bees liking that source of water…
But that doesn’t explain @Dee’s observation that bees love to drink the liquid from around cow pats… 
My other thought was that there was minerals in the water when it goes through the soil. Maybe there’s a few minerals in a cow patty 
Hi @K26kv, You are welcome, it might be a problem sending them into the U.S. anyway. I harvested a couple recently & peeled one for some visitors to try raw. We commented how we thought that rats would love to get into these. I guess while they are under water, they’re safe from rats. I’m not really due to harvest them till around June, however there’s some nice ones coming out right now.
With beekeepers needing to supply a clean water supply for bees I’ve been trying a few different ideas to see what works best for thr hobby beekeeper.
In the hot Australian sun some of the water containers don’t last long so keep that in mind when picking a bottle or water utensil.
Here are some that I have tried over. 12mths.The blue one was made for me by my daughters boyfriend using a 3D printer and I think this will prove to be a good one, The chook waterer has a 20 liter drum on top of it which is great for remote areas and needs some kind of ladder in the water bowls for the bees to climb up
Hello Brian. I use washed ‘crusher dust’, it cuts down on evaporation and maybe worth giving a try in the top photo. The bees have no trouble getting a drink and they can’t fall in and drown. You have a great range of watering points that are well thought out.
Regards
Thanks Peter I’ll give that a try, I also noticed that bees can get a safe drink from wet rope or string and they seem to preference that over stones or marbles
I used to have 20 litre drums and filled with water and a towel though where the cap screwed on and the towel worked like a wick keeping it damp. Good for where there was no water supply. The bees soon figured it out.
Cheers
It wasn’t a thought that I needed to provide water for my bees, I suppose I thought they would find water while foraging, the forum is a good place to get information
In SouthAustralia where I live it is now law to provide clean water within 200 mtrs of the hive for all beekeepers
In the UK, you can probably rely on the water that falls from the sky almost every day! 
Supplying water is very often overlooked Mark, it is needed by bees as much as pollen and nectar. My apiary has a large ‘pond’ that is full of reeds only 100 metres away but I still give them clean water which they use landing on the towel that is wet. It is sometimes covered in bees.
Cheers
Mine get water from a small pond n waterfall I built before I got my bees. As for clear water … mine favor more off flavor beverage !
