Honey bees need water too….

If you see a honey Bee taking a sip from your birdbath or taking a dip in your pool, the “sip” means they’re collecting water for their hive, and the “dip” could mean they’re dying, 

“Like most other animals, the bodies of honey bees are mostly water”. “Thus, they need to drink water routinely as we do.  Additionally, water (or sometimes nectar) is critical for diluting the gelatinous food secreted from the head glands of nurse bees, so that the queen, developing larvae, drones, and worker bees can swallow the food.  They use water to keep the brood nest area at the proper relative humidity, especially when it gets hot and dry outside the hive.  Water droplets, placed within the brood nest area, are evaporated by fanning worker bees and that cools (air conditions) the brood nest area to keep the eggs and developing brood at the critical 94 degrees Fahrenheit required for proper development.”

On extremely dry, hot days, all bee foraging except for water will cease . “Under those conditions it has been estimated that the bees may be bringing back nearly a gallon of water a day.”

One good thing to know: Bees don’t like to get their feet wet.  They can land on a cork to sip water or simply sip from the edge of the birdbath. Besides wine corks, you can also use a stone, a twig or a flat chunk of cork.