I was wondering why people don't consider an alternative - a permanent
(during season) Bordman feeder, but filled with water? Yes, it narrows
down the entrance somewhat, but bees don't mind and for sure they
appreciate a truly local water source, right at the gate, :-) I put them
in as soon as I remove entrance reducers in the spring and remove them
when the reducers come back on in the fall.

I couldn't get my bees to leave the neighbor's pool as well until I gave
them each an entrance feeder - problem solved. Given that my local well
water is hard and goes through a softener, I have a feeling that my bees
must absolutely love it based on this discussion thread.

Perhaps it's not an option for thousands of colonies, but entrance feeders
are cheap and almost any jar will do.

Przemek

On Mon, 01 Feb 2016 10:12:18 -0500, Adam Ritchie <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> [...]
> I put a 5 gallon pail of water in each yard and usually add some pond
> salt.  There are always a few bees using the pails, but they are only
> used
> on mass during cool days in the spring, and drought conditions in the
> summer.  During these times the 5 gallon pail can disappear in less than
> a
> week.

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