Honeybee behaviour - collective 'drinking'?

[AstralHighway]

I've been so fascinated by honeybee behaviour in my garden that I've looked for and now found this forum and this is my first post.

A few days ago, I noticed a number of honeybees making regular trips to a planter on our patio. Initially, I wasn't at all clear what they were doing, but now, it seems they are 'drinking' from the soil medium, which is peaty and often damp.

In sunny weather, there are anything between 4 and 10 bees using the planter. The planter has a layer of pebbles on the surface and between some of these, there is a gap that the bees can penetrate. Each bee spends up to a minute after landing, and then flies off virtually due south, all in the same direction.

The bees are obviously using some kind of visual marker as it takes some of them a few seconds to correctly align themselves with the target , using the surroundings of the planter.

Could they be drinking in this way? If so, is the water for them or for their larvae and how do they store it. Why don't they go to a more obvious source of water than this spongy but admittedly highly-absorbent planting material?

I did not notice a single honeybee in our garden until this discovery. The bees are not pollinating plants in our garden and do not even attempt to forage for pollen - they just arrive, do their thing in the planter and go.

We have other bee species, mostly leaf-cutter and bumble bees, that are pollinators.

I do not know where the nearest hive is. Until I saw these bees, I believed it to be as far as 3.5 miles away.

 

[FreeFall]

They are probably gathering water for their brood. I have a hive in the garden and they are visiting the pond a lot at the moment (there were up to twenty at a time yesterday). They seem to prefer wet 'things' as I guess it prevents drowning - for example they will suck at dead iris and the sand around the pond but not venture too far out (although there is floating weed that some prefer).

I've heard it said that once a colony finds a water source they are not easily 'trained' to another - one of the reasons to give them something nearby and prevent them ending up in a neighbour's pool/hot tub. If you enjoy seeing them, keep the planter moist and they should be coming back all summer

Nick

Welcome to the forum by the way!

 

[MJBee]

Welcome to the forum.

Bees collect water for a variety of uses, when it is hot they use it for cooling by evaporation. It is also used to dilute stored honey to feed the young larvae.

They collect from some very odd sources, some pretty disgusting - the dirty puddle is often preferred to a dish of clean tap water Your planter is providing a safe (they cannot drown) source and probably contains minerals which they find attractive.

The colony is likely to be quite close, if you can follow the line the bees take when leaving it will take you straight to the hive. A frequently used technique called "beelining". Keep the compost damp and you will have bees all summer, enjoy.

Freefall beat me to it - lol

 

[REDWOOD]

If the pebbles are from the beach it could be the salt they like also

 

[mexbigshow]

welcome to the forum
my bees like to suck the moisture out of the cow manure on the allotment mmmmm can't wait for that honey

 

[itma]

They are 'drinking' (tanking up) and taking the water back to their colony to be shared around.

They like warm safe damp (and probably smelly) water sources.
Warm doesn't chill the water carrier bees. Smelly helps them discover it! Damp is safer than unpredictable moving water .
A single bee has happened to find this source and has 'told' its chums - in the same sort of way that they communicate the location of food sources, by their "waggle dance" and sharing tastes of what to look for at the destination.

They use water for all sorts of things, including hive air cooling in hot weather by deliberate water evaporation.

They navigate astonishingly well, and home is probably very close to the direct line you see them leaving in - its probably less than 3.5 miles, but it might just possibly be from the hive(s) you know about. Check the direction with a map! Its been very dry, and there's probably not a vast choice of drinking holes.
But if they are around, then they will check out your other flowers and trees, although those specific bees on water carrying duty will concentrate on shuttling back and forth, rather than foraging for anything else (but new recruits to water carrying may not get the directions exactly correct, and wander around your garden looking for the water they've been told about).
My bees 'drink' from a birdbath in the garden (I've added some spongy moss to make it easier for them). But its a couple of feet above ground level - newcomers can be seen casting around below it, before discovering exactly where it is, while regulars come straight to it, without any hesitation whatsoever. But they don't bother with it until the sun strikes it directly. Its not much used in the morning, while it is in shade.

 

[Suzi Q]

I made a nice bee drinking bowl filled with moss which they ignored until a fox poohed in it, now they love it!

 

[Beeforest]

welcome to the forum
my bees like to suck the moisture out of the cow manure on the allotment mmmmm can't wait for that honey

Mine too from the horse manure.

 

[AstralHighway]

Wow! Thanks for all these detailed replies, folks. Very interesting and much appreciated.
It's very exciting to think there could be a hive closer than the one I thought. I live in a very densely built up area but have a lovely big garden (relatively speaking) which I've planted with loads of native species - hazel, dog rose, blackthorn, Guelder rose, wood sorrel, teasel and many others.

I do wonder where that hive could be as they seem to be heading straight for a big council estate, unless they're stopping of at the overgrown garden of a very elderly neighbour who never ventures out.

Do honeybees improvise somewhere to build a colony if there is no hive?

 

[FreeFall]

Do honeybees improvise somewhere to build a colony if there is no hive?

Yes, of course - they've been around for a long time, much longer than hives have! They could be in a hollow tree, old barrel, chimney stack - any enclosed space approx. 30 to 40 litres in volume seems favourite. Maybe you should try following them - it would be interesting to see where they are living. The overgrown garden does sound promising...

Nick

 

[AstralHighway]

Nick, thanks! Which aspect do they prefer? Is it south to west facing, where it's warmest, or do they prefer some shade?

That might help me narrow it down a bit...

I can't literally follow them, as they are overflying at least two fences, but if I get my binoculars out, at least I'll be able to see if they're landing in the garden that I suspect...

 

[meetballuk]

i had a loaded on a mud puddle with chick poop in it, then they all congrated on a a earth bank next to it i thought they might be miner bees but wasnt sure and didnt have phone to take photos. they seemed intrested in the bait hive which did make me smile!
there was also a bean sized bee but wasnt sure on that either? as too small to bee a honey bee? did have polen on legs?
and defintly had a black honey bee i hope she tells her mates theres a good home here when its swarm time

 

[AstralHighway]

MJ, yes, the planter has peat in it so is naturally slightly acidic. I also watered it with an NPK fertiliser with other trace elements added to it, so it has lots of nitrate, phosphate and potassium as well as many other salts. That might be what's attracting them.

The planter is also easy to find as it has a distinctive shape and natural 'pointers' in its surroundings (although I don't know if bees find stuff like this by sight alone or also, once they're very close, by smell?) Could anyone enlighten me pls?

 

[FreeFall]

I'm only just starting out in this game really, so don't take anything I say as gospel - in fact, don't take anything that anyone says as gospel, as there are always differing opinions

I think the trace elements/salts are possibly why mine like the sand around the pond, rather than just sucking it up off the weed.

Bees certainly recognise landmarks - there is a rule that says if you move a hive you must move it less than 3 feet or more than 3 miles (which is pretty much the maximum foraging range). This is so when they are out foraging and then return home, they don't follow the usual route and end up in the old location. Keepers with many hives in one area will often paint hives different colours or put bold shapes near the entrance, to help bees recognise their own hive (so preventing drifting between them).

Scout bees will bring back samples for other bees, to help them find the food/water source that they are advertising. This may be why they prefer smelly water, as it will be easier for the others to find - I've heard that with a clean water source they will mark the area with their pheromone as a location aid.

Here is one of my girls at the pond.

Nick

 

[Cazza]

I have 3 different feeding stations. A small pond with mossy edges, a horse feed bucket with twigs in it and a plastic crate with polystyrene floats. All are popular. The favourite at the moment is the poly float crate. i think it's because it's in the sun most of the day an the water is warm.
Cazza

 

[madasafish]

In early spring/late winter, mine prefer small pots with potting compost in the sun outside the grreenhouse (faces South).

Now it's warmer, a bigger baisin with a sponge, floats , sticks and a string hung over the edge. - about 1 metre away.. 20-40 bees at any one time. Water is green and has a large dollop of horse manure in it.

On cold days the bees drown. I fish out as many as I can and leave in warm greenhouse to revive if I am in time.. (which is rare)

 

[AstralHighway]

Nick, if all your girls are this beautiful, you're very lucky. She is a stunner.

 

[drstitson]

if feeling so inclined you could dab some tippex carefully onto the thoraces (middle bit wings attach to) of a couple while drinking. you'd then be able to time their return and estimate how far away hive is and then go looking!

10 mins 1 mile
5 mins 1/4 mile
1 min close

 

[itma]

if feeling so inclined you could dab some tippex carefully onto the thoraces (middle bit wings attach to) of a couple while drinking. you'd then be able to time their return and estimate how far away hive is and then go looking!

<...>
1 min close

Do they really "unload" that quickly?

It seems to take several minutes for an individual bee to tank up. (Maybe this depends on the water temperature... and the distance back to the hive?) And then some might not return immediately for another load.
But yes, the minimum round-trip time ought to give an indication of how far they are going.

 

[bee ginnner]

pollinators.

I do not know where the nearest hive is. Until I saw these bees, I believed it to be as far as 3.5 miles away.

Hi astralhighway, you probably have loads of hives that you don't know of within a 3.5 mile radius