Bee-lieeping in Victoria. 119 



XXIV.— Water for Bees. 



Few beekeepers are aware what amount of water is required by a 

 colony of bees during the summi;r months, and how important it is that a 

 permanent supply should be available within a reasonably short distance 

 of an apiary. As a general rule, bees are left to themselves to get their 

 supply of water wherever they can. There is usually a natural water- 

 course, dam, or waterhole somewhere in the neighbourhood, and if per- 

 manent and within a few hundred yards of the apiary, such sources 

 answer well enough. When, however, water is not permanently avail- 

 able within a quarter of a mile, it is greatly to the advantage of the 

 apiarist to provide an artificial supply as near the apiary as convenient. 

 I do not think that the time occupied by the bees in carrying water over a 

 longer distance need be seriously considered, but the greater liability of 

 being caught by birds and insects, blown down during strong winds, or 

 caught in rain-squalls during the longer journey is a serious matter. At 

 the margins of dams and water-holes hundreds of bees are often 

 destroyed within a few minutes by cattle or horses stamping them into the 

 mud or swamping them through the plunging of the animals into the 

 water. Where many bees are kept, and the water supply is limited, they 

 become a nuisance to stock, and sometimes a source of ill-feeling between 

 neighbours in consequence. Bees are also very annoying about the 

 apiarist's own home, round water-taps, tanks, and the drinking dishes of 

 poultry, when the weather is hot, and any other supply of water rather far 

 from the apiary. The writer was confronted with all the troubles enumer- 

 ated when first establishing his apiary in its present location ; an automatic 

 artificial supply close to the apiary has overcome these difficulties, and 

 has now been working continuously for fourteen years without a hitch. 



The water is obtained from the roof of the honey house and stored 

 in two tanks of i,ooo gallons each. An iron water-pipe, laid underground 

 (i8 inches deep) so as to keep it cool in summer, conducts the water to the 

 drinking troughs, which are at a distance of about loo feet from the 

 building, and the same distance from the nearest hives. This distance 

 is necessary, otherwise the bees, when flying to and from the water, 

 interfere with work in the apiaiy, and also cause confusion at swarming 

 time. There are two drinking troughs ; they are placed on a stand at a 

 height of 3 feet from the ground, in order to prevent poultry going to 

 them, .and to keep drifting leaves and other material out as much as 

 possible. Each trough measures 36 inches x 24 inches inside, with ? 

 depth of 6 inches, and consists of a frame made of 6 x f white Baltic 

 flooring lx)ards, with a bottom of 6 x | lining boards. It is lined with 

 plain galvanized iron. No. 26 gauge, neatly fitted inside the w-ooden 

 casing, to which it is secured at the top with fine tacks. It is better to 

 have two or even three of such troughs instead of a large one of the same 

 surface area as the two or three combined. If only one large trough is 

 used the bees are too much concentrated, and a good deal of fighting 

 and stinging takes place occasionally. It is, therefore, better to have 

 several troughs a little distance apart, and if they are placed on the same 

 level and connected by means of a piece of garden hose attached to a 

 stud at the bottom of each, one stand pipe, with automatic tap, will supply 

 them all. On the top of each trough floats a raft, upon which the bees 

 alight to drink, and it is so constructed that they cannot drown, and even 

 dead bees cannot drop into the water and thus pollute it. The raft 



