I have observed my bees getting water mainly from two sources.  They will work both at the same time.  One is mud puddles in an area in my woods that has a natural seep most of the year.  They work the path we walk on when it is reasonably dry so is semi vegetation free most of the year.  This water has percolated thru soils so presumably is fairly mineral rich.  The second is a rubber lined pond my wife grows a variety of aquatic plants in.  Everything from water lilies to pitcher plants.  None are potted in dirt.  The water in this pond is very mineral poor.  Nearly all the water is either rain or snow melt. The only time we add water is during a bad drought.  We add no fertilizer so the lilies bloom very poorly.  It is horridly over crowded with plants.  The water is tannin rich and loaded with whatever chemicals result from decaying plant material as we have not cleaned it out for 15 years.  I have put out water right in the apiary to which I added a small hunk of mineral block, about a teaspoon per gallon, and find they ignore that water entirely.  We have a bird bath in the yard and I never see them getting water from there.  It stays fairly clean.  I have no idea what makes some source attractive other than they seem to prefer grungy.  I wonder if it has as much to do with dissolved organic matter or a high count of microbes as minerals?

Dick

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html