Water source is of most importance for your apiary.
Bees need water to dissolve nectar into honey.
If they don’t have water the whole process is more difficult.
On hot days, the water refreshes them and provides relief from the heat.
Water sources
A good thing is to know if there is any natural water source near the apiary if not the best thing to do is to make one.
Natural water source
A good natural water source is a creek or a river, a pond will also be a good thing near the apiary.
If your apiary is not near a natural water source, bees will try to find water anywhere, even in open containers near houses.
Having a large number of bees around one’s home may not be well-received by some people, so it is something to take into consideration.
Artificial water sources
If there is no natural water source a good idea is to make one.
People a lot of times create ponds or build reservoirs.
If there is access to tap water then the job is to make bee-safe containers to help them use the water source.
How to make a water source
It’s not enough to just put a bucket of water out for bees because they can drown if they fall in.
The best way to give bees access to water is to build bee-safe water containers.
Bucket with styrofoam
The easiest thing to do is to get a bucket a fill it with styrofoam that is previously broken down into pieces and then fill the bucket with water.
Also, you can fill the bucket with water and add it after the broken styrofoam so it fills the surface.
This needs to be done because the bees will have little landing spots on the water to land and take as much water as they need.
The styrofoam floats on the surface and moves with the water level, providing bees with constant water access as long as there is water in the bucket.
Bucket with a net
To make this you will need some wire net and a bucket.
The wire net should be shaped into a cylinder, and then attached to the lid of the bucket by cutting a hole in it.
The wire cylinder should be as long as the depth of the bucket to ensure constant water access for bees.