FAQs -- Bees

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Bees at Fountain
We have beekeepers down below and we are getting too many bees around our fountains, any free advice??? I got your info from nextdoor.com.. We turned off the fountains where there was the problem. We had a nice frog near the fountain but he/she left now too...

Any good beekeeper should be providing water for their own bees. Do you know these people at all? If you can talk to them and explain the situation and ask them to provide for their bees that should alleviate the situation. Keeping your fountain turned off until they locate a different source of water is a good idea, but that is assuming you have a cooperative neighbor. All they have to do is to set up a stock tank or trough somewhere closer to their bees than your fountains and maintain water in it at all times. The bees will soon reorient on a new source. Whatever you do, don't believe anything you read on the internet about bees being repelled by peppermint or any other smell. They use the smell of chlorine to orient on pool water. It does not deter them. Your neighbor can use our waterer as a sample, https://www.ceder.net/bees/pond.php but there's no need to get as elaborate as that. As long as the water is constantly available and there are things floating in it to act as safe harbors for the landing bees, that will suffice.

Hive Beetles
What is the type of cloth you add to the hive to get rid of hive beetles? Also, where do you put the cloth? I remember hearing corners but is that corners in the bottom of the hive or corners just above the frames?

https://www.ceder.net/bees/inventory_viewsingle.php?Id=608

We cut these in 4ths, fold it over so that it is approximately 3.5"x6" and put one on the northwest corner on top of the frames and a second in the southeast corner on top of the frames, then (if necessary) on the next box put one in the southwest corner on top of the frames and another in the northeast corner on top of the frames, alternating as necessary.