BajaNomad

All bees and no birds...

OLIGUACOMOLE - 7-31-2009 at 06:18 PM

I wanted to pass this along for those who live in the Baja outback. For the past couple of years we have a bee(honey) problem. The bees are not seeking food they are seeking water. Depending on the amount of rainfall the bees start to show in late May looking for water. They can invade water sources like showers, toilets, homes and where there is a scent of water.

Not much can be done to prevent them(bees) from coming once the bee dance is communicated to the hive. Poison only kills a few and they keep coming. Sometimes it can be funny if a woman comes from the outdoor toilet and says "BEES"! I say ok, I understand, we have a inside toilet. Relief washes the face of the person needing the pot! Who wants to sit on a pot-o-bees?



What I do to solve the bee problem is to create a watering hole for the bees. Take a five gallon bucket and fill it with water. Take a chunk of styrofoam and float it on top. Place it away from your structure in some shade. It will take a few days and the bees will start to go to this spot. Now you might need to check daily and fill with water. The styrofoam will allow bees that fall into the water to climb out and dry off. If there isn't a place for them to get out some will drown and stink the water. Soon after a few days nearly all the bees will go to this spot. If bees start showing in your structure it means you are out of water in the bucket----GO FILL IT.



It is hard to beat the bees, so live with them and give them a little water. When the rains come STOP filling the bucket and they will find natural water as long as it is available at other locations.

shari - 7-31-2009 at 06:35 PM

sometimes when we go camping and the first bee shows up, we immediately put a bowl of sugar water away from our camp so the bees go there instead in our camp....works pretty well...but as Olivia says, you have to do it before the bee dance takes place....

Mulegena - 7-31-2009 at 06:40 PM

This is brilliant, Mark. Practical and compassionate and eco-friendly.

Now here's a fun story about your place:
It wasn't bees that surprised me on my last visit. Give you two guesses .... .... Wrong!

Ok. After swimming in your gorgeous bay and enjoying popcorn and a few colas while playing billiards, the girls and I needed to visit your restrooms which are located outside. As we approached your outdoor ladies' facilities I heard sound inside and stood back waiting the lady to exit. Low and behold, and low on the edge of the door thrust a furry paw, pulled the door open, then out pranced your shepherd dog. She had been getting herself a tall drink of water!

nancywinpdx - 7-31-2009 at 07:57 PM

eeeeeewwwww! I don't want any doggie kisses!!!

OLIGUACOMOLE - 7-31-2009 at 08:05 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Mulegena
This is brilliant, Mark. Practical and compassionate and eco-friendly.

Now here's a fun story about your place:
It wasn't bees that surprised me on my last visit. Give you two guesses .... .... Wrong!

Ok. After swimming in your gorgeous bay and enjoying popcorn and a few colas while playing billiards, the girls and I needed to visit your restrooms which are located outside. As we approached your outdoor ladies' facilities I heard sound inside and stood back waiting the lady to exit. Low and behold, and low on the edge of the door thrust a furry paw, pulled the door open, then out pranced your shepherd dog. She had been getting herself a tall drink of water!

Yeah....ever notice how a dog would rather drink out of a toilet than their bowl? Tells ya something.

bajabound2005 - 7-31-2009 at 09:23 PM

we have an inside bowl of water and an "outside bowl of water" for the dogs....they love drinking from the outside bowl. I don't get it. Same water!

Crusoe - 7-31-2009 at 09:26 PM

Ok.....Wev'e dealt with the bee's.... Now can anyone reveal any secret tricks to deal with the fly's. Thanx mucho. ++C++

Bajahowodd - 7-31-2009 at 10:20 PM

Worldwide, bees are facing a major catastrophy. Colonies are dying. Without bees, we humans will be in big trouble, inasmuch as crops will fail to produce. Anything we can do to assist bees, as uncomfortable as it may seem, is really in our own best interests.

LisaR. - 7-31-2009 at 10:45 PM

Bajahowodd, you are so right. I loved OLIGUACAMOLE's suggestion for that very reason. We need bees!

Bajahowodd - 7-31-2009 at 10:54 PM

:tumble:;D

Flies

OLIGUACOMOLE - 7-31-2009 at 11:09 PM

Last year a friend of mine introduced me to a fly trap. His name is Steve....lives in Coyote on the hill.
He had this fly trap made by RESCUE sold at Home Depot for 6 bucks. He showed me how many flies it had caught.

Fill it with water and this trap will catch flies by the thousands. The flies keep dying and it seems flies love dead flies! Each trap holds over 20m dead flies.

I used to be this guy running around the restaurant with a swatter killing flies, also spraying chemicals. Not anymore, these traps are amazing and well worth the money. Keep them filled with water and the flies keep coming.
They have a bit of a stink, so put them by the garbage or by Munoz's home! You will be amazed.
google: Rescue Fly Trap

Bajahowodd - 7-31-2009 at 11:21 PM

Kill as many flies as possible. They are nowhere nearly as useful as bees. Cultivate and conserve the bees.

BajaNuts - 8-1-2009 at 01:05 AM

I've used the Rescue fly traps, and also the Rescue yellowjacket traps and they are effective.

Baldfaced hornets- (they love fruit)- 2L pop bottle, poke a couple "x" holes in the top with a knife, bend the tabs in to form a one-way entry situation, apple juice to about 1/3 full. Throw out when full of hornets.

For the bees in the bucket, would a piece of wire mesh (I'm thinking window screen or similar) hanging into the water help the critters get down to the water level with better traction than the sides of the bucket? Or even a board or stick that they can land on, and walk down to the water. Or does the styrofoam work for landing and crawling out?

My dad used to have a couple hives and we used to play "chicken" with the other kids in the neighborhood to see who could stand in front of the hive the longest. I usually won. :dudette:

Osprey - 8-1-2009 at 06:27 AM

It's hard to know just how to help the bees. When the big fruit/nut companies in California rent about 1/2 the bees in the U.S., they are trucked in from all over. The truckers try very hard to make the runs without stopping -- if and when they do have to stop on the highway, uncountable numbers of bees leave the hives/truck to unburden themselves (to be polite) and not many make it back to the hives. So, along with colony collapse there is a big pit-stop loss each flower season.

Cypress - 8-1-2009 at 06:38 AM

Spraying crops with insecticides probable kills more bees than anything.

larryC - 8-1-2009 at 09:34 AM

I have been useing the bucket method for a few years now and I found that a rag draped over the edge of the bucket and into the water allowed the bees to get out of the water pretty well, and they seemed to have a easier time getting a drink off the damp rag. Once you get the bees useing your bucket, you can move the bucket 15 or 20 feet everyday farther away from your house and pretty soon you are almost bee free. I found I had to add water about ever other day.
Larry

Bats in the Bellfry?

Mulegena - 8-1-2009 at 10:41 AM

Does anyone keep a bathouse or two on their property?

Up north I have two hanging under the north-face eve of my house. I've had upwards of 300 Mexican Brown Bats living there half the year. In the winter they fly south.

Their guano makes great fertilizer. High in nitrogen.
1 Tablespoon guano/ 1 gallon water for the concentrate.
Dilute the concentrate 1 cup/ 1 gallon water

Bob and Susan - 8-1-2009 at 04:16 PM

bees dont like clorine
you probably dont clorinate (treat) your water

ive seen the same thing here where people just use the delivered water and dont treat it

you should actually find out where your water is comming from

clorinate (treat) your pila and your bee problem disappears

OLIGUACOMOLE - 8-1-2009 at 04:21 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bob and Susan
bees dont like clorine
you probably dont clorinate (treat) your water

ive seen the same thing here where people just use the delivered water and dont treat it

you should actually find out where your water is comming from

clorinate (treat) your pila and your bee problem disappears

Clorinate every time ...especially in the summer. My bees are willing to try anything!

larryC - 8-2-2009 at 08:55 AM

Chlorination doesn't slow my bees down either, but sure helps to keep the moss out of the dogs constant waterer

OLIGUACOMOLE - 8-3-2009 at 02:42 PM

Here is another bee story. Last winter Tecate Beer brings us some new wooden chairs. They are a little rustic and I wonder if a little lemon oil I bought at Smart n Final might work on the wood. I have one chair up on the counter and am coating it with lemon oil. Soon I have a few bees in the restaurant then hundreds. They seem to be going to the chair. I take the chair outside and a swarm goes to the chair. I then take the cloth rag with lemon oil and throw it on a clay pot 20' away. Soon the swarm goes to the lemon oil soaked cloth. The swarm stayed there for at least three weeks until they just died out.
Later I googled about traps for honey bees. A company claimed to be able to catch swarming bees. They had real good success in Arizona along golf courses. In the ad they say their traps have a nice lemon scent???
It might be a way to catch a swarm to put in your beehive.

chuckbolton - 8-10-2009 at 04:51 PM

You all are on the right path-- keep a water source out for the bees-- im a bee keeper and use plastic gutter (5 foot pieces) fill them with gravel or small rock-- and then with water-- you dont have the trouble with them drowning-- im in the midwest and refill them every 2-3 days-- ofcourse they are in the ponds- creeks and bird baths-- like nectar sources-- water sources are conveyed to the hive and thus another source may be closer-- they'll use the one they have found--

also the lemon scent is used in swarm traps-- tho its not really lemon-- ive forgotten the source-- but sure smells like lemon pledge. its the only hobby i ever started that paid for itself and has become a nice source of income too.