We just got our first bee hives. We have a little pool with some water plants for them to drink out of. I was wondering about putting mosquito dunks in the pool to keep the mosquitoes out but am afraid it might kill the bees. Does anyone know?

Welcome Pam

I researched the question and found a lot of comments that state the mosquito dunks are safe for bees. Some also said if the water is refreshed every few days mosquitoes won't lay their eggs in it. They need still water for 10 days to hatch.

I would think if your pond water is circulated through a pump or is topped up with fresh water every so often you shouldn't have to use the dunks at all.

Thanks for researching the dunks. The little pond is hard to dump often so I was hoping to avoid that. I can top it off ever couple of days so I will see how that works first. Those bees sure do drink a lot. There is always a few there getting a drink.

Hope topping it off works for you.

Honey bees use up to a quart of water per day when it's hot. It's used to cool the hive and to think honey being fed to larvae. About 800 worker bees are busy collecting water for the hive with each worker making 50 trips per day. So it's not uncommon to see them at water sources as often as you see them on flowers.