Birds and Bees
Pal Tiya Premium is cement based but is far more sculptable, frost proof and water resistant than concrete when mixed and cured correctly.
Birds, bees and other wildlife are around cement and concrete regularly in our everyday urban environment.
While developed specifically for outdoor statuary and sculpture, Artists are beginning to apply the material for other uses; including decorative bird houses and bird baths and bee baths. All the same design considerations are required when planning a piece that is going to be used to interact with nature in some way. For example – the depth of the baths, their positioning away from predators etc. all need to be taken into account.
We are art specialists and not bird specialists, so we focus on the aesthetic and decorative aspects rather than the practical. If you wish to create bird specific nesting boxes, we strongly recommend that you contact your local bird organisation to ascertain the design considerations required for creating practical bird boxes.
Some people are using their concrete sealant of choice to add a layer on top of any colorants they have used. These vary from country to country and we recommend checking and following the manufacturer’s guidelines as appropriate.
The only straight out ‘No’ we have is for aquatic use. We have tested Pal Tiya Premium’s use in water for aquatic life and have concluded that like many other cement based materials the pH of the water remains too alkaline to be able to recommend it’s use with fish.
Bird and bee baths should have their water changed on a daily basis irrespective of the material used to make them to avoid the growth of algae and bacteria.
This resource online: https://www.honeybeesuite.com/
Discusses how bees have known to take water directly from pools on top of freshly poured concrete.
Apparently bees can taste and seek out water they find beneficial; whether it has elevated salt content or minerals to add to their nutritional needs.
Other online bee specialists discuss that the bees may not be drinking the water, but using the water to cool their hive through evaporative action.
The bottom line, it seems that bees know what they can and cannot drink, whether it’s dark brackish water with mud and nutrients, or even chlorine laced pool water.