Good idea! I'm blessed to have three mountain springs which flow to the Horsepasture River here in Cashiers. The honeybees have plenty of clean water. But, if I had a "cement pond" this would be a great solution. Thanks for posting! See y'all tomorrow for queen bees. Have a great weekend. Kevin from Cashiers, NC!
Hi Bob, I can definitely confirm to your audience that bees love salt water. We actually just took down our saltwater pool because the kids were reluctant to swim in it anymore. Fun fact for you, we actually have a natural pond 20 yards from the pool, and the bees were choosing the pool over the pond.
Pools are a lot of work I’ve had chlorine and salt water and I finally built my own natural pool with natural filtration now we share it with the bees instead of fighting with them to stay out,mostly they stay in the filter bed area since it has shallow areas or plant to land on
2nd the saltwater theory. We trailer our boat from the ocean and park it in the lawn until I get time to clean it. They get in the transom, seat stitching, lines.. Anything that holds moisture
When bees transport water they reduce their electrolytes with every carry. Just like athletes they need to replace those salts. Animal urine, cement, pool water etc all are sources. We add salt to most of our waterers. We also make "safe" areas (by using wicking towels) so bees don't drink from the edge of the water where they get washed in.
Wow, the comments are a fascinating collision of the beekeeping world and the pool maintenance world. I guess everyone eventually finds their favorite thing to argue about 😂
Baking soda is used to raise alkalinity.... yes. BUT, you want to maintain a lower level of TA so that your Ph doesn't swing around. Ph that swings around is going to make the water burn your skin, this is what makes people think they hate chlorine pools. TA should be kept around 60-90. I bring mine down to 55 and I drop in a 3# bag of baking soda. Anyone who buys Ph-Up is buying rebranded baking soda at an inflated price. Just buy the cheapes baking soda you can, Target, Costco, walmart wherever it's cheap near you.
Bob is out of his lane on this one.... sorry Bob. First off, this is completely anecdotal, which is kind of what beekeeping is. It's why people like to say "what works for me may not work in your area". I am a home owner with a pool and I am very active in the pool forums and groups. Ozone pools are a PITA to maintain and most can't manage them and most pool companies will mismanage them so they can get rid of it and sell you a salt chlorine generator system or just dose chlorine. Chlorine pools and salt water pools are the same thing. Both use chlorine as sanitation. One pool has salt in it and the salt is split using electrolysis to create chlorine. Once the chlorine has 'cleaned' it turns back into salt. A chlorine pool is dosed with liquid chlorine and once the chlorine has "cleaned" it turns into salt. I have had my current pool for three years. When we bought the house I drained it to start fresh. Added my CYA, got Ph right, added chlorine along the way to keep it from going green. have only used liquid chlorine as my sanitation method. My salt level is already up to 1,750PPM of salt. A salt pool is maintained around 3,200-3,800ppm. A salt water pool is a chlorine pool, and a chlorine pool is slowly turning into a salt water pool. Please look up a website called Trouble Free Pools.com. Read and watch their videos. I think bees might like the salt? But I am not super sure that even holds water.... I get bees at my water tub and I don't get a ton of bees at my pool. I think it depends on if your pool is the only source of water. I bet ozone deters them a bit. And for all those who complain about chlorine pools make your skin itch or they smell bad... the itch comes from poorly managed Ph. The "chlorine" smell of a pool is a pool you should NOT swim in. that smell is chloramine. It's the gas given off when chlorine is oxidizing organic matter, like dingle berries, pee, scabs, blood, leaves, bugs... Chlorine pools only smell if they're dirty. Try it, take some bleach and pour it into your toilet (after it hasn't been cleaned in a week or two...) you'll smell that fresh pool smell.
Pool Tech of 18 years and I'll agree with most of this, except heavy chloramine smell can just be from a badly ventilated pool, doesn't mean the pool is dirt/ shouldn't swim in it, just means the pool is cleaning. A pool full of shit and no chlorine doesn't have the chloramine smell either. I've seem ozone used successfully for small pools, as in the one in the video would be near the biggest I would even attempt for. I've also seen it successfully used in combination with weekly hydrogen peroxide shocks in a full sized pool, but this is a costly avenue to take. But to the point of the video, I have no idea if bees would turn up their proboscis at Hydrogen Peroxide, if they got a sanitation system that is providing results with keeping bees away then more power to them, but if you're rocking a 25k gal pool, don't expect the same results
@@perfectfear Yes, a pool full of poop isn't gonna smell like chloramine if it's got no chlorine haha. and you're right, a pool smell doesn't always mean it's not swimable... but the pool is working on cleaning it'self, so give it some time. The first week we were in our new to us home, the pool smelled like chlorine and we weren't even using it (sept). I finally got my test kit and tested, and we'd been there a week and the FC was 31!! My theory is the pool was a swamp prior to listing and they just SHOCKED the heck out of it during that time or.... pool guy knew it was his last trip for a while and just poured in a lot of chlorine. nice gesture if that's the case. Either way, I drained it, replaced all the IFCS heads and refilled. Third pool I've done that to. I believe every home owner should reboot a pool if they're moving into a new home with a pool. Who KNOWS what's in it, might as well start fresh. Oh, and about the ozone. There is a company around me that installs them and EVERYONE I've talked to says the things quit or aren't enough and they end up converting to salt or dosing chlorine. I can't wait to get my pool pad replumbed so I can get my salt cell installed. need to pour a new slab and move some stuff...
My wife will be happy to hear this...
Thanks for sharing
Super cool getting this info out. I will pass along to my neighbors with pools.
Thanks for the informative video Bob. I will pass this along to my sister-in-law.
Good idea! I'm blessed to have three mountain springs which flow to the Horsepasture River here in Cashiers. The honeybees have plenty of clean water. But, if I had a "cement pond" this would be a great solution. Thanks for posting! See y'all tomorrow for queen bees. Have a great weekend. Kevin from Cashiers, NC!
Thanks for sharing, I've never heard about this method!
Hi Bob, I can definitely confirm to your audience that bees love salt water. We actually just took down our saltwater pool because the kids were reluctant to swim in it anymore. Fun fact for you, we actually have a natural pond 20 yards from the pool, and the bees were choosing the pool over the pond.
What we're missing in this video is Bob floating on the pink flamingo!
Something tells me that's not going to happen. 😎
Thank you for sharing this information Bob!
Terri
Mississippi Gulfcoast
Hi Terri. Sorry it took so long.
Very good tip!
Pools are a lot of work I’ve had chlorine and salt water and I finally built my own natural pool with natural filtration now we share it with the bees instead of fighting with them to stay out,mostly they stay in the filter bed area since it has shallow areas or plant to land on
I like it better when you read to us! But cool pool ideas are better than no ideas.
2nd the saltwater theory. We trailer our boat from the ocean and park it in the lawn until I get time to clean it. They get in the transom, seat stitching, lines.. Anything that holds moisture
That's one for the book , under what heading, leave that up to you.
Good information. Thanks for sharing.
hello Mr. Bob, I am a beekeeper from Kyrgyzstan. I wanted to improve my level of beekeeping by working in your apiary
Thank you for the inquiry but we have a lot of help at this time.
When bees transport water they reduce their electrolytes with every carry. Just like athletes they need to replace those salts. Animal urine, cement, pool water etc all are sources.
We add salt to most of our waterers. We also make "safe" areas (by using wicking towels) so bees don't drink from the edge of the water where they get washed in.
Just did a bee cutout and with in 25 ft there was a big swimming pool, told them that was a bee magnet. Maybe they will call back next year, LOL
Wow, the comments are a fascinating collision of the beekeeping world and the pool maintenance world. I guess everyone eventually finds their favorite thing to argue about 😂
awesome
Baking soda is used to raise alkalinity.... yes. BUT, you want to maintain a lower level of TA so that your Ph doesn't swing around. Ph that swings around is going to make the water burn your skin, this is what makes people think they hate chlorine pools. TA should be kept around 60-90. I bring mine down to 55 and I drop in a 3# bag of baking soda. Anyone who buys Ph-Up is buying rebranded baking soda at an inflated price. Just buy the cheapes baking soda you can, Target, Costco, walmart wherever it's cheap near you.
Putting a sprinkler between the pool and the hives? Wonder if those high pressure fog/ water misters might work too?
It might, I'm not sure. We have wonderful spring water just as close as the pool but if there is chlorine involved they always go for the pool.
Add but nothing really on keeping honeybees away from pools. Google must have sent me to the wrong place.
I caught 6 swarms in the woods right behind my neighbors pool. It was so bad his girls couldn't use the pool.
😉🙋♂️😊🐝
Bob is out of his lane on this one.... sorry Bob. First off, this is completely anecdotal, which is kind of what beekeeping is. It's why people like to say "what works for me may not work in your area". I am a home owner with a pool and I am very active in the pool forums and groups. Ozone pools are a PITA to maintain and most can't manage them and most pool companies will mismanage them so they can get rid of it and sell you a salt chlorine generator system or just dose chlorine. Chlorine pools and salt water pools are the same thing. Both use chlorine as sanitation. One pool has salt in it and the salt is split using electrolysis to create chlorine. Once the chlorine has 'cleaned' it turns back into salt. A chlorine pool is dosed with liquid chlorine and once the chlorine has "cleaned" it turns into salt. I have had my current pool for three years. When we bought the house I drained it to start fresh. Added my CYA, got Ph right, added chlorine along the way to keep it from going green. have only used liquid chlorine as my sanitation method. My salt level is already up to 1,750PPM of salt. A salt pool is maintained around 3,200-3,800ppm.
A salt water pool is a chlorine pool, and a chlorine pool is slowly turning into a salt water pool.
Please look up a website called Trouble Free Pools.com. Read and watch their videos.
I think bees might like the salt? But I am not super sure that even holds water.... I get bees at my water tub and I don't get a ton of bees at my pool. I think it depends on if your pool is the only source of water. I bet ozone deters them a bit. And for all those who complain about chlorine pools make your skin itch or they smell bad... the itch comes from poorly managed Ph. The "chlorine" smell of a pool is a pool you should NOT swim in. that smell is chloramine. It's the gas given off when chlorine is oxidizing organic matter, like dingle berries, pee, scabs, blood, leaves, bugs... Chlorine pools only smell if they're dirty. Try it, take some bleach and pour it into your toilet (after it hasn't been cleaned in a week or two...) you'll smell that fresh pool smell.
Pool Tech of 18 years and I'll agree with most of this, except heavy chloramine smell can just be from a badly ventilated pool, doesn't mean the pool is dirt/ shouldn't swim in it, just means the pool is cleaning. A pool full of shit and no chlorine doesn't have the chloramine smell either.
I've seem ozone used successfully for small pools, as in the one in the video would be near the biggest I would even attempt for. I've also seen it successfully used in combination with weekly hydrogen peroxide shocks in a full sized pool, but this is a costly avenue to take.
But to the point of the video, I have no idea if bees would turn up their proboscis at Hydrogen Peroxide, if they got a sanitation system that is providing results with keeping bees away then more power to them, but if you're rocking a 25k gal pool, don't expect the same results
@@perfectfear Yes, a pool full of poop isn't gonna smell like chloramine if it's got no chlorine haha. and you're right, a pool smell doesn't always mean it's not swimable... but the pool is working on cleaning it'self, so give it some time. The first week we were in our new to us home, the pool smelled like chlorine and we weren't even using it (sept). I finally got my test kit and tested, and we'd been there a week and the FC was 31!! My theory is the pool was a swamp prior to listing and they just SHOCKED the heck out of it during that time or.... pool guy knew it was his last trip for a while and just poured in a lot of chlorine. nice gesture if that's the case. Either way, I drained it, replaced all the IFCS heads and refilled. Third pool I've done that to. I believe every home owner should reboot a pool if they're moving into a new home with a pool. Who KNOWS what's in it, might as well start fresh.
Oh, and about the ozone. There is a company around me that installs them and EVERYONE I've talked to says the things quit or aren't enough and they end up converting to salt or dosing chlorine.
I can't wait to get my pool pad replumbed so I can get my salt cell installed. need to pour a new slab and move some stuff...