I Have Bees and Wasps in My Pool –
What is Water Foraging?
The summer
months bring hundreds of calls from people throughout Arizona and other
southwestern states experiencing an increased number of African honeybees and
wasps at their fountains, swimming pools, bird baths, ponds, pet water bowls,
leaky sprinkler heads, and irrigation systems, etc. Large numbers of bees and
wasps taking water from a swimming pool can virtually make the pool un-useable
during the hot summer months.
These water foraging bees typically settle and
drink water for 30 or 45 seconds at the water source and then fly away. These
bees are taking water back to their established colonies to keep the beeswax
that makes up the honeycomb from melting. Honeybees store their nectar, honey, pollen
(bee bread), eggs and developing babies (brood) in the cells of the beeswax
based honeycomb. If the temperature exceeds 86F to 92F the wax will begin to
melt, causing the bees to lose the structure that contains their food stores
and offspring. For these reasons, honeybees will send out a lot of water
foragers to bring back water to pour on the honeycomb, and then the bees will
line up facing the same direction and fan their wings to cause evaporation of
the water and keep the honeycomb cool, like an evaporative cooler.
African
honeybees, commonly called “killer bees” are now pervasive in the southwestern
United States. Their colonies tend to be more aggressive during the hot summer months
and are more irritable because of the constant struggle to maintain their
honeycomb and the large numbers of workers that are sent out to forage for
water accomplish this task. If you are in the proximity of a known established
bee colony, expect it to be in a much more aggressive and irritable state. If
you are aware of an established bee colony in proximity, it should be
exterminated immediately by a licensed bee removal specialist to prevent harm
to humans, pets or livestock. If you are unsure of the colonies location, you
may wish to have your property inspected by a licensed bee removal specialist
to eliminate the possibility of any direct or indirect threat. In fact, we
strongly advise that you do so.
Most
commonly, you will see more water foraging bees and wasps in the morning and
evening with fewer being present during the hottest part of the day, depending
on how hot it is. Bees and wasps do not gather water after dark. Water foraging
bees may be individually aggressive, protecting their water site, but will not
attack in mass. They are simply gathering water and have no reason to try to
defend the water source as they would the area around their home colonies.
Additionally, you may have water foraging bees and wasps from many different
bee colonies and wasp nests at the same water source.
There is no
perfect bee removal or wasp removal solution for water foraging bees and wasps
other than to eliminate the water, or the access to the water source. Generally,
in most states, the use of pesticides around any water source is forbidden.
Most insecticides, even if they are approved for use on bees or wasps, are
water soluble and thereof not safe to use. Otherwise, there are a few things
you can try, working with bee and wasp behaviors, none of which are known to be
100% successful. They are not listed in order of effectiveness below:
1. As stated
above, you can either eliminate the water or eliminate the access to the water
for at least 4 days to a week. This may require multiple attempts over a period
of time. Swimming pool covers may be helpful if they totally restrict access to
the water.
2. Change
the alkalinity of the water with baking soda. You can get an alkalinity test
kit and chart from any pool supply store in your local area. Consult your local
pool service or supplier for information on the effects of this procedure on
your particular type of pool and its structural surfaces.
3. Purchase
a light colored, plastic pan, such as a dish pan or kitty litter pan; place
some clean, rough, fist-sized rocks in the pan. Place the pan as close to the
area where the bees are currently foraging as possible. Put water, flavored
with honey (1-2 tablespoons to 1 gallon of water), into the pan. You must
continue to keep this honey-laced water in the pan until the bees begin using
it preferentially. Once you see that more bees are using the pan with the
honey-laced water than the pool, fountain, etc., you can slowly move the pan
away from the original water source at a rate of about 1' per hour, until you
get the pan to a less intrusive spot on your property. Once the bees are trained
to use the pan, you can use plain water, but you MUST KEEP WATER IN THE PAN,
all the time or the bees will go back to using the original water source. Make
sure you don’t cover the rocks with water. The bees have to have a place to
land and hold on to so they can get their mouth parts to the water, but keep
their bodies dry and out of the water.
4. Nightly,
scrub the hard surfaces of the site where the bees are landing with a very mild
solution of vinegar & water. This will reduce the pheromone the bees have
individually applied to the site that helps them find their way back to this
specific area. After drinking, each individual bee will deposit a pheromone
scent marker at the spot before it leaves and will generally return to the same
spot. Nightly scrubbing may help confuse the water foragers.
5. In a
hand-held spray bottle with about a one quart capacity, mix in a couple ounces
of “liquid smoke” with water. Liquid smoke, a food additive, can be commonly
found in grocery stores. You can add glycerin to make it last longer on the
surface, if it won’t damage or stain the area to which you are applying it. A
couple of hours before you are going to be in your pool or spa, etc., begin
spraying this smoky smelling solution around the dry areas, as close to the
area where the bees are gathering to forage for water, as possible. You will
have to re-apply this as the smoky smell diminishes, but this will help deter
the bees from using your water source while you are trying to be in the area.
You may have to adjust the ratio of liquid smoke to water until you find the
most effective concentration. Avoid direct contact with the water. Again, it is
not necessary to do this after dark. The bees will be back in their colonies
for the night.
None of
these suggestions really works for water foraging wasps. Wasps can float on the
surface of the water to drink. Your pool maintenance person can put an additive
in your pool that lessens the surface tension of the water so the wasps aren’t
able to land on the surface without drowning. Consult your local pool service
provider. Other than that, the best solution is to locate where the wasps are
nesting, usually nearby, and have them exterminated.
These
suggestions may be helpful, we hope so. Unfortunately, whether or not there are
natural water sources like mud puddles, ponds, etc. available to them, the bees
still need water when it’s hot and will go to un-natural sources if they are
forced to do so. You may have the only suitable water source for miles and if
that is the case, none of the above suggestions will be very helpful, except
restricting or preventing access to the water source. As the temperature decreases or the
availability of natural water sources increases, such as during the monsoon
season, you will experience a decrease in the amount of water foraging bees and
wasps.