bees surounding my pond

Question
I have thousands of bees surrounding my pond everyday.  I don't know what to do.  I have turtles and koe fish.  I was hoping you could let me know what to do about the problem.
I live in the San Tax Mountains in Queen Creek Arizona.
Please let me know if Salt Water would solve the problem.
I don't want to do anything to hurt my turtles or fish.

Please help me with my problem.

Kathleen

Answer
I'm sorry that the bees are bothering you.  We have two honeybee hives so I now have bees in the pond a lot but they're not a problem.  It would help to know what species of bee, hornet, or wasp you had using your pond; where they live; and why they are at your pond. The last question is easy.  Since you're in Arizona, they are probably desperate for a water source.  When drinking, bees should be pretty happy and shouldn't sting you unless you collide by accident or try to harm them.

I suggest setting up a small, shallow pond of water just for them.  They will prefer shallow water and use that pond if you set one up so fewer would be in your main pond.  Make the new pond close to a water spigot but not where it will bother you as much.  You'll have to maintain that pond when it's dark, and the bees are gone.  There is no real safe way to keep the bees away from your main pond completely.  Poisons would harm the turtles and fish.  Adding some pond salt to the pond at low levels will help the turtles and fish but do nothing to deter the bees.  The amount of salt you'd have to add to keep the bees away would be deadly to the fish.  I suggest 0.05% pond salt in ponds with plants at the most and up to 0.1% in ponds without plants.  

I've been meaning to write a section on my web site about bees, hornets, and wasps visiting the pond but haven't had the time. I do have a section on how to get rid of their nests if they are next to the pond.  It's at http://www.fishpondinfo.com/pcare.htm#wasp

No matter what you do, you may want to do your pond chores after dark for a while if you're scared of the bees.

Good luck!
Robyn