So easy to make and so helpful to our native bees and other pollinating busy buzz. I do not have honey bees but I do have a lot of different native bees on the farm. This drought means that I am wanting to add in a few extra water station to the different areas on the farm. Without the bee’s, I will have far less produce coming in.
I picked up a plate from my second hand shop and at the same place I found some nice blue glass bits to mix into a base of blue-grey gravel. Its important to give them a nice mixed surface to land on and drink off.
So lets talk a little bit more about why I choose blue.. most of the books will tell you that for the native bee’s yellow is their favorite color in plants (and yellow is important) but Blue is pretty special to them. Its not a common color in plants, however a lot of plants have a blue sheen to them that helps draw the bees to them.
To read lot more here is the link..
https://www.beeculture.com/bees-see-matters/
However here is the qoute that is the most important that I would like to share from their site.
Like us, bees are trichromatic. That means they have three photoreceptors within the eye and base their color combinations on those three colors. Humans base their color combinations on red, blue and green, while bees base their colors on ultraviolet light, blue and green. This is the reason why bees can’t see the color red. They don’t have a photoreceptor for it. They can, however, see reddish wavelengths, such as yellow and orange. They can also see blue-green, blue, violet, and “bee’s purple.” Bee’s purple is a combination of yellow and ultraviolet light. That’s why humans can’t see it. The most likely colors to attract bees, according to scientists, are purple, violet and blue.
Just another Day on the Farm 
This is really interesting. We all talk about feeding the hummingbirds and butterflies, but I’ve never thought about watering the bees.
Glad you liked it, I don’t have honey bee’s so I am looking at ways to increase and support my native bees on my homestead. We have been having some very hot weather and drought like conditions here and keeping the bee’s watered and on the farm working is important.
So, how does it seem to be working so far?
Crazy good.. I will see if I can get pictures of some of the bees and other things visiting it, I wish I didn’t have as many ants visitng it but what can you do.
Love the idea of crushed limestone with the flat allies (wow, never had to spell that before, and none of the versions look ‘right’ so, how bout we just stay with marbles which I know they’re not; )
I didn’t know that about bees. 😀
glad to share the info, I thought it very interesting myself
Thanks for this link Val! ‘Gleanings in Bee Culture’ had a place on the magazine rack at the farm for as long as I can remember; )
And you’re so right about there beeing a lot more on this site… Check out the drop down menu for more articles on ‘Science’, but here’s one on hummingbirds and bumble bees: https://www.beeculture.com/catch-the-buzz-exposure-of-hummingbirds-and-bumble-bees-to-pesticides/