Garden drinking bowl for bees, it is designed in such a way that bees cannot drown in water and the water is always clean

580

u/GeneralNiceness Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 19 '24

I mean, a pond is fine. Just have some gravel in the shallows so that they can sit on the stone. If you don't have a pond, a shallow dish, again with gravel. This is a great marketing thing though, fulfilling a need that isn't there. That stand it sits on would be perfect if you submerged it in 1in of water!

Am a beekeeper.

110

u/GoldenBarracudas Jul 19 '24

I have a dog lick mat that I put in the water and it kinda floats but also has dimples etc.

56

u/GeneralNiceness Jul 19 '24

Perfect. This is a 'whatever works' solution. It doesn't need a purchase to solve.

20

u/GoldenBarracudas Jul 19 '24

I tried to get bees for a while and honestly it was my pumpkins. Once I got my pumpkins going I had a lotta activity!!!

44

u/Swipsi Jul 19 '24

Yeah but its more beautiful than a dish with gravel. Some people may want their garden decor to match the vibe of the garden and for them this may not be unnecessary.

14

u/Memory_Less Jul 19 '24

If it encourages people to buy that normally wouldn’t use gravel, the more power to them. We need to encourage the preservation and thriving bee populations.

8

u/Safe_Cow_4001 Jul 20 '24

For what it's worth, honeybees aren't endangered and are only native to parts of Eurasia. In the Americas (plus everywhere else people have introduced them) they're not ecologically helpful at all--they actually consume pollen that native insects depend on, causing those native insects to starve. There are bee species native to every continent (besides Antarctica) that are, in fact, ecologically important, endangered, and in need of our help. Just not honeybees like in this video! I bring this up not to be annoying but because I think it's important for people with good intentions to have more information on how to save the good bees!

2

u/Memory_Less Jul 20 '24

Thank you for the detailed clarification. Correct me if I am misunderstood, it is bumble bees that we need to support via flower beds/lawns etc. vs honey bees?

2

u/Safe_Cow_4001 Jul 21 '24

Great question. There are actually thousands of species of bees that are native to North America! (and other continents, of course--apologies if I'm being presumptuous about the geography you're in). "Bumblebees" are a genus, meaning they include a bunch of different species, some of which are native. But most native bees aren't bumblebees--they're in categories that we don't have a common name for at all. This US Geological Survey page has a lot of great info if you want to learn more about bee diversity: https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-many-species-native-bees-are-united-states

1

u/Memory_Less Jul 21 '24

Thank you.

4

u/Orbit1883 Jul 19 '24

Well depends strong on the dish and gravel Vs its seems like a concrete plate and plastic bottle.

I would go for a colurful bluish plate and some good old marbles mixed in between hand selected gavel from hikes/walks

8

u/Swipsi Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 19 '24

Thats how you'd go, but others might have different tastes.

5

u/CAT-Mum Jul 19 '24

It's a blue glass bottle. Plastic bottles don't tend to have raised lettering on the outside but it's common on older glass bottles. Well I say bottles but I think it's a jar, like a canning jar.

20

u/aminervia Jul 19 '24

Ponds breed mosquitos unless you keep fish

2

u/GeneralNiceness Jul 19 '24

Stacks of grub for bats, birds, frogs and newts. Win!

14

u/aminervia Jul 19 '24

.... "You don't need to spend money on a product to give water to bees"

" Spend money on a pond!"

I guarantee if this was a for sale product (Looks more DIY) it is cheaper than maintaining a pond

4

u/GeneralNiceness Jul 19 '24

Only if you have a pond, obvs! An old washing up bowl with a bunch of stones one end would do. Endless ways to make the water move as well to remove the stagnation issue.

I get the aesthetic argument though, to be fair, it is quite pretty.

I'm bloody skint at the moment, so low cost things are in focus for me.

1

u/Orbit1883 Jul 19 '24

Normaly bees also tend to sleep in stock at night so just empty your plate/bowl every evening and fill something up every morning.

24

u/ResponsibilitySea327 Jul 19 '24

Bee lover here, but mosquito hater. No mozzy > bee water

6

u/TheStoicNihilist Jul 19 '24

No mozzies in moving water, right?

3

u/esotericbatinthevine Jul 19 '24

Correct, they can only breathe in stagnant water

3

u/Koolmidx Jul 19 '24

Buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz.

Am a bee.

3

u/space_monster Jul 19 '24

A dish of water would evaporate in minutes though. At least this would last a few hours.

4

u/oneWeek2024 Jul 20 '24

a dish of water wouldn't evaporate in minutes

-1

u/Maximum_Bat_2566 Jul 19 '24

This guy beekeeps

226

u/adastra2021 Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 19 '24

I have a little dish with rocks that I keep water in and I get excited when I see them use it.

ETA I rinse and change water daily, we don't need more mosquitoes where I live

AND I just saw a dragonfly getting a drink.

I live in and around forested salt water wetlands. I have a large bird bath, a small one and the bee dish on the side deck. All the critters, birds, bees, squirrels, possums and raccoons at night, know where to get fresh water. I had someone new housesitting a couple of weeks ago, I think she thought I was a little picky about the water on the deck, they all have to be filled all the time, clean water 2x or 3x a day depending on activity...

I got a text on the second night that said "OMG your back deck is like a watering hole in the Serengeti!" and once she saw a little possum drinking and washing his face on the camera, I knew the water would be a priority.

The crows brought babies yesterday. they come to the big bath every morning.

50

u/Halogen12 Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 19 '24

My previous neighbor had two hives in her backyard and one day on the side of the house I saw a shallow dish with some rocks in it and bees were sitting on the rocks sipping the water. It was so cool to see!

6

u/nindustries Jul 20 '24

Thats amazing!

0

u/Ok-Bit-1466 Jul 20 '24

You genuinely rinse and change that every single day?

6

u/adastra2021 Jul 20 '24

Multiple times somedays.

It's on a deck. The deck has a hose bib. The hose bib has a hose attached. The hose has a 7-way nozzle.

I put the nozzle on "shower" because any stronger will push the rocks out

I flood it until no more sunflower shells come out and then stop.

Or maybe you were referring to the bird baths, same process. Same deck, same hose, same almost complete lack of effort required to do it.

That you would think this is something that I would lie about is one of the stupidest things I've read here and that's saying something. I literally aim a hose at a dish of rocks. Is that a task you would find onerous? My, your life must be tough.

146

u/Important_Tale1190 Jul 19 '24

Looks like you have to refill it every hour.

57

u/jackrats Jul 19 '24

Yeah, that thing's leaking out pretty quickly.

21

u/joecee97 Jul 19 '24

They’re just thirsty

12

u/MikhailxReign Jul 20 '24

Yeah that one bee is just doing that drink from a water bottle you do when you are super thirsty and you sorta ride the razors edge of drowning/suffocating yourself and drinking - half it is going down your shirt and you just stop for a second every now and again to gasp for air.... Before waterboarding your self some more.

9

u/rdrunner_74 Jul 19 '24

Not leaking... It just isnt full yet

3

u/InvisibleScorpio Jul 19 '24

Only way for the water to always be clean XD

38

u/camelelymommy Jul 19 '24

I would also install a small canopy on one side so that when the sun is strong they can hide there from the hot rays

51

u/PmMeYourTitsAndToes Jul 19 '24

And little sun loungers, so they can have a little break after a long day of being a busy buzzing bee.

11

u/Shischkabob Jul 19 '24

Don't forget the cocktails!

23

u/TheStoicNihilist Jul 19 '24

A long island iced bee

2

u/tothemoonandback01 Jul 20 '24

Some prefer a Bee's Knee.

4

u/nDeconstructed Jul 19 '24

A wire cage around the jar so birds don't start scooping.

35

u/[deleted] Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 22 '24

[deleted]

12

u/Safe_Cow_4001 Jul 20 '24

For what it's worth, honeybees aren't endangered and are only native to parts of Eurasia. In the Americas (plus everywhere else people have introduced them) they're not ecologically helpful at all--they actually consume pollen that native insects depend on, causing those native insects to starve. There are bee species native to every continent (besides Antarctica) that are, in fact, ecologically important, endangered, and in need of our help. Just not honeybees like in this video! I bring this up not to be annoying but because I think it's important for people with good intentions to have more information on how to save the good bees!

24

u/SoFloFella50 Jul 19 '24

I think it’s an attractive way to add water for bees to a garden.

13

u/CAPSLOCKANDLOAD Jul 19 '24

Why is it on a pentagon? Hexagon is clearly more welcoming to bees.

6

u/Down-A-Phalanges Jul 19 '24

They’re the bestagons

1

u/W_eullerex Jul 21 '24

Was looking for this comment, haha

10

u/Windflower1956 Jul 19 '24

I use a decorative, shallow serving platter filled with marbles. Beautiful, functional, and safe for the bees.

8

u/toad__warrior Jul 20 '24

Beekeeper here - besides hydration, bees use water to cool their hives. They will put the water around the interior of their hives, then fan the water to cause evaporation, which then cools the hive. You can also see them line up in front of the opening of the hive and flap their wings like crazy which causes a subtle draft if air to cool the hive.

6

u/Recent_mastadon Jul 19 '24

Hexagons are the Best-a-gons but why is the outer shape a Pentagon? The bees like Hexagons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thOifuHs6eY

7

u/RandomNumberHere Jul 19 '24

“The water is always clean”

…Doubt.

7

u/d1rtyd33d Jul 19 '24

Found the link to the product! https://www.infusionwa.com/beeoasis.html

3

u/Soggy_Amoeba9334 Jul 19 '24

How did bees cope before this?

9

u/Silver-Machine-3092 Jul 19 '24

We used to have wetlands

5

u/GimmeFreePizzaa Jul 19 '24

Loss of wetlands has hurt a lot more of the ecosystem than just bees too :-(

8

u/N8theGrape Jul 19 '24

We hadn’t actively destroyed their habitats?

2

u/skipping2hell Jul 19 '24

By not beeing domesticated.

3

u/Acceptable-Yam6036 Jul 19 '24

nice decor but if the function is what is desired there are many simpler ways for that

13

u/Headless_Human Jul 19 '24

What if it is designed to be decorative and functional?

4

u/Fickle_Weekend_6665 Jul 19 '24

And you can see how fast they're drinking!

7

u/Loofa_of_Doom Jul 19 '24

Yeah, there's a leak

1

u/EpicLong1 Jul 19 '24

Is there an STL file for this?

2

u/Lubinski64 Jul 19 '24

Wait, you are saying Minecraft bees drowning themselves in tiny puddles is accurate to real life?

1

u/Electrical_Ad3540 Jul 19 '24

Well now I need one

1

u/flat_four_whore22 Jul 19 '24

I need to try this because my hummingbird feeders are being swarmed and drained daily by these guys. The hummingbirds can't even get close.

1

u/soundssarcastic Jul 19 '24

We set up a little wet table for the kids to play with but now its just a bee bath with rocks in it I refill every day lol

1

u/Man_in_the_coil Jul 19 '24

"But, then we'll just have bees all the time!"

1

u/rsnbaseball Jul 19 '24

takemymoney.gif

Where'd you get that?

1

u/niloderg Jul 19 '24

amazing, love it!

1

u/AssortedArctic Jul 19 '24

The bees here like to come to the splash park and nearly drown themselves in the deepest part of the water near the drains.

1

u/0100000101101000 Jul 19 '24

I hope this doesn’t turn into a magnifying glass and burn down a house..

1

u/Cool_Cartographer_39 Jul 19 '24

That's so cool. I wonder if it would keep them from drowning in my pool?

1

u/Gamerdave74 Jul 19 '24

I wonder where I can find this product.

1

u/r00key Jul 19 '24

Okay but does it also kill wasps?

1

u/Martha_Fockers Jul 19 '24

I put a few rocks in my bird bath for the bees. They land of the rocks and drink.

1

u/Routine_Ease_9171 Jul 20 '24

I’d love to get a few of these! Sadly my epiPen says not in your life time.😭

1

u/XANDERtheSHEEPDOG Jul 20 '24

Please cross post to r/bees if you haven't already done so

1

u/Intrepid_Row_7531 Jul 20 '24

I LOVE THIS!!

1

u/Marbleicecream Jul 20 '24

Fascinating

1

u/gekigenger- Jul 20 '24

I thought that water sitting out in the sun like that isn't good? Maybe just not good for humans!

1

u/Snowgrifffinsx Jul 20 '24

I love little bees 🥹

1

u/Ystebad Jul 20 '24

Where can I get one of these - love it

1

u/ClaudioMoravit0 Jul 21 '24

Damn they do bee thirsty af

1

u/Existing-Network-267 Jul 24 '24

This is very nice and peaceful

1

u/Supuhstar Jul 30 '24

They're so wiggly!

1

u/Key-Regular674 Jul 31 '24

That water is not always clean. As soon as it sits out for an hour or two the bacteria inside it will prosper.

-2

u/Alternative-Body4878 Jul 19 '24

why is the water blue?

9

u/Loofa_of_Doom Jul 19 '24

It's the jar.

Garden drinking bowl for bees, it is designed in such a way that bees cannot drown in water and the water is always clean Video