MadSci Network: Zoology |
That's a tough one! Since the bees seem to be coming to the pool for a drink,you could try giving them a safer place to go - and then maybe they'd leave your pool alone. Try putting out a big bowl of water someplace away from the pool, with a rock in it for the bees to crawl on if they fall in. To call the bees over to it, also put out a bowl of blue or yellow-colored sugar-water, which bees love. (They see blue and yellow better than other colors!) In a few days, the bees will find the sugar, and maybe leave your pool alone. You'll have to change the sugar water regularly, because it will get moldy, but you may find other neat things like butterflies using it too. If ants start hogging the sugar, you'll need to make an "ant moat" around it. Put the sugar-water bowl inside another bowl partly filled with water (you could use your bee watering bowl for this!) I don't know if this will keep the bees away from your pool or not. It might just bring more bees into your yard! They will be neat to watch at the sugar, though. If this doesn't work, I'm not sure what else you could try, other than scooping out floating bees and banging a long stick on the ladder to scare lounging bees away before you take a swim. Good luck!
Try the links in the MadSci Library for more information on Zoology.