David Crawford wrote: > There were several hundreds of bees sitting on the moist dirt, I > assume drawing water. The 12 hives that were using the dirt > water, sit 10' to 20' from a year around creek. Why did they > choose the dirty, fertilized water? Minerals? Hi, you may get a more complete answer later. Bees don't seem to much like fresh or running water. Their own personal safety seems likely to be a major reason, if they have to use moving or deep water they risk drowning. I think that wet earth is usually their favourite place. In my garden pond they use the boggy margins every time. I guess that they are likely to pick up minerals from dirty water -- I doubt that they want the fertiliser itself :-) Regards, -- Gordon Scott [log in to unmask] Compuserve 100332,3310 [log in to unmask] Basingstoke Beekeeper [log in to unmask]