Help wanted.  Calling all experts. . Has anyone successfully tackled the
problem of bees ignoring the water supply in the apiary and going instead to
a neighbour's pond?  Although I keep a supply in the apiary all the year
round (bees here collect water as early as January) many of my bees prefer
my pond some forty yards away.  Luckily I have no near neighbours to worry
about.
An acquaintance has just come to me with this problem.  His neighbour is at
present sympathetic but is worried about his children getting stung and is
expecting the beekeeper to work a miracle and stop all the bees from
visiting the pond.  The bees have a supply well laid out and warmed by the
sun in the apiary.
Is there any way in which the apiary supply can be made very attractive or,
alternatively, the pond supply made unattractive (there are no fish to worry
about)?
It is a situation which arises every year but I have never been faced with
it and do not know the answer.  If I can get a number of replies, helpful or
otherwise, I can at least print them out for passing to the neighbour to
show that we have taken the matter seriously and consulted beekeepers from
all over the world.                      Sid P.
 
_________________________________________________________________
Sid Pullinger                    Email :  [log in to unmask]    or
36, Grange Rd               [log in to unmask]
Alresford
Hants SO24 9HF
England