Having bees in our yards is greatly beneficial for the
pollination of our fruit trees and flowers and
provides habitat for a host of other interesting wildlife, tree-frogs,
crickets, toads, praying mantises, birds and butterflies to name a
few.
A great variety of garden flowers attract honeybees, such as
sunflowers, borage, lilacs, lilies of the valley, nasturtium and
chamomile. A bit of
research will lead you to many more.
Honeybees also need fresh, pure sources of shallow water. They use
water to cool down the hive on the hottest days and to thin the honey
when feeding their young larva. In our yard we see honeybees on their
forays of water collecting just as much as we see them buzzing around
flowers. It is estimated that a strong hive uses over a quart of
water a day which means 800 working honeybees each making 50 trips
each to the water hole. And we think doing dishes is a chore! We can
supply these thirsty bees some water holes by placing small bowls or
trays of water placed in safe areas, where they can easily be
replenished with the water hose or rain showers. Honeybees can easily
drown so the water stations must be shallow with sticks, stones or
plants that the bees can walk out on to gather water from. Our
beekeeper keeps a watering trough wet, which has little sections only
about an eighth of an inch deep for the bees to gather water from.
By
offering honeybees a pesticide-free environment with rich, organic
soil bearing a diversity of plants, and by supplying them with a
source of clean water, we can do our part to help save the honeybee
and we will also be helping out our local beekeepers. Honeybees
travel within a two to three-mile radius from their hive to forage so
there is a good chance that your yard is potential food, good or bad,
for a bee near you. What do you have on the menu for her?
If
you are interested in keeping bees you can contact your County
Agricultural Extension Office for information about local beekeepers
and bee-keeping associations.
May
the honeybee AND the beekeeper live on.
“A
swarm of bees in May is worth a load of hay.
A swarm of bees in June is worth a silver spoon.
A swarm of bees in July is not worth a fly." Ancient May Day Proverb
When it is too late, it is too late.
