# Bees attracted to urine?



## sampa (Mar 14, 2005)

This is really weird. My dog usually pees in the same place every day. There are bees on that spot all of the time now. I'm very worried about my dog. She got stung once and had a severe reaction. Any ideas on what I can do? Would a salt lick or something like that distract the bees?

Thanks,
sam


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## Barry Digman (May 21, 2003)

I'd have the dog checked for diabetes. Maybe the bees are attracted to excess glucose.

http://www.caninediabetes.org/caninediabetespg.html


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## shoefly (Jul 9, 2004)

Bees are attracted to smelly liquids. If your go back in the Beesource archives you can find more examples where bees rather slurp horse piss, bird bath water, swimming pool water, clothes washer discharge than what we perceive to be the good stuff that comes out of a tap. I have a pile of horse manure composting and the bees like to go to the moist places and get something out of there - must be somehow nutrious for them.
I doubt that potential glucose or sucrose in urine attracts bees - otherwise they'd be like wasps that are attracted to soda pop can as well.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

It may be nothing, but it may be diabetes. That's how the connection to the pancreas was discovered. It was a dog that had his removed and the bees were atrracted to his urine.

But bees are fond of water sources with a lot of smell. Whether chlorine or urine.


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## sampa (Mar 14, 2005)

FYI

After my dog got stung last time, she was put on a steroid called Prednisone. One of the side effects is to raise blood sugar. So essentially, she has a temporary case of diabetes. Once she's off of it, she should return to normal.

Thanks for the information above. I wouldn't have thought to check out her drugs otherwise.

sam


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## JDI (May 11, 2005)

As a veterinarian I can tell you that many people with diabetic dogs will comment after a diagnosis is made that both bees and wasps were attracted to the area where their pets urinated. Not only is this a common phenomenon it used to be used to determine whether a person was excreting sugar in their urine. The only other option was tasting it yourself and I don't think there were too many people standing in line wanting that job.
James Ireland


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## naturebee (Dec 25, 2004)

I wouldn't waste the 60 bucks on the vet for the diabetes theory.

Bees will collect water form a smelly source because a water source with an odor will draw more recruits. These sites often win out over a clean source because a dancing bee can convey an odor associated with the source, and they are easier to find. Swarm traps with an odor will occasionally attract swarms for the same reason. 

I would set up a watering source closer to the bees. Let it run on the ground or other spot where moss and slime will grow making a nice odor for the bees to home in on. You might want to locate it to the up wind side of the bees, may help. You might want to teach your dog to pee in it once in awhile also, but not drink from it.


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## Nighteyes (Mar 30, 2021)

sampa said:


> This is really weird. My dog usually pees in the same place every day. There are bees on that spot all of the time now. I'm very worried about my dog. She got stung once and had a severe reaction. Any ideas what I can do? Would a salt lick or something like that distract the bees?
> 
> Thanks,
> sam


 Okay so I'm 16 years late to this party but I had to Google this today as our make dog wees in our patio and I was finding bees (not sure which kind but specifically a kind that looks like soldier or honey) would "drink" from it. Not the kind of thing I'd ever have to Google but thank you for making this post. I'm reassured it's not just my dogs wee that is weirdly attractive to them. I love bees and I felt awful but I've had to wash the patio thoroughly as we have a young cat who is just itching to be stung!


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## crofter (May 5, 2011)

Bees prefer water with about a three percent salt and minerals content. Favorite is the hog wallow and a roadside ditch here that gets the runoff of all the winter roadsalt. They know what they need.


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## GregB (Dec 26, 2017)

Manure run-off are one of the favorite bee drinking places.


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## JWPalmer (May 1, 2017)

Urine is loaded with the mineral salts that the bees crave. There are lots of threads on Beesource talking about the disgusting things our bees forage on. They would not be drinking it if they did not need the minerals. They will drink from potted plants too to get the little bit of fertilizer that leaches out.


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## MajorJC (Apr 13, 2013)

JWPalmer said:


> They will drink from potted plants too to get the little bit of fertilizer that leaches out.


Hmmm, my German Shepherd, Karma, likes to drink the brown water in the tray under my hibiscus plants. I wonder if that's her way to get a daily multivitamin.


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## William Bagwell (Sep 4, 2019)

crofter said:


> Bees prefer water with about a three percent salt and minerals content. Favorite is the hog wallow and a roadside ditch here that gets the runoff of all the winter roadsalt. They know what they need.


Apologies for the late reply. How much of that three percent is actual salt? Four ounces of most anything per gallon seems kind of high to me now that I think about it. 

Back story. Last Fall we made two bee water stations out of large flower pot saucers. Wife put plants and stuff in hers, I filled mine with small round rocks. Was also putting a tiny tiny pinch of sea salt in mine Once she caught on and switched to rocks (various shapes and sizes) plus a pinch of salt, hers was back in the lead of bee popularity. Your post here inspired me to increase from a pinch to a half tea spoon. (Cold here so we will not know for a day or two...) Got caught (again!) so she Googled and found something suggesting .15 to .3 percent salt. Now wondering if you dropped a decimal place?


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## crofter (May 5, 2011)

William Bagwell said:


> Apologies for the late reply. How much of that three percent is actual salt? Four ounces of most anything per gallon seems kind of high to me now that I think about it.
> Got caught (again!) so she Googled and found something suggesting .15 to .3 percent salt. Now wondering if you dropped a decimal place?


I think you are right. The bees probably tailor make their intake depending on local needs. Can be considerably different if you are in limestone country or acidic rock area. I know with chickens some areas definitely need limestone added to locally produced grain or egg breakage in the nests is common.


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## Mud Songs (Sep 30, 2010)

I wrote about this on my blog years ago when I first noticed it. Not the urine bit, but the bees being attracted to compost piles and stinky water:









Stinkin’ Dirt Never Tasted So Good


I noticed my drinking dirty water last May. They seem to love the minerals from the dark composted soil in my raised garden beds. They’ve been at it again for the past few days. April 2019 Po…




mudsongs.org





A PhD student, who is now a doctor, Rachael Bonoan, studied the mineral preferences of honey bees when they're drinking water, an area of study that stemmed from her observation of honey bees drinking dirty water. She concluded that honey bees likely drink dirty water as a way to supplement the minerals in the floral diet. She said, “Dirty water is like a vitamin supplement for bees.” It makes sense that some urine would have a similar effect. 

Has anyone tested this with human urine?


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## joebeewhisperer (May 13, 2020)

When I was a kid my Dad showed me an Old-Country method for "coursing" bees (what most ppl call bee-lining). He took a tin can with no lid, dropped in a corn cob, then peed in it. He said we had to leave it, but if I passed it, to refresh it. ;D

After about 2 weeks there was a bit of material that exuded from the husks that had been around the corn kernels. The honey bees (and no other bees) were working it. He eventually found a bee tree, but we accelerated the process by melting a small piece of comb. That was a fun Sunday afternoon. 

He learned this method from his grandfather who likely learned it from his father, who came over from Switzerland in 1869. If any of my ancestors knew what I spend on sugar, styrofoam boxes and such, they would shake their heads in disbelief. They were,..... well, ....frugal. Yep frugal. Like, finding a bee tree with a corn cob and pee frugal


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## GregB (Dec 26, 2017)

joebeewhisperer said:


> They were,..... well, ....frugal. Yep frugal.


LOL.
You still can be frugal with the bees.


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## JWPalmer (May 1, 2017)

GregV said:


> LOL.
> You still can be frugal with the bees.


BeeKEEPERS tend to be frugal. BeeHAVERS buy Flowhives and tend to spend a lot on money on equipment (and bees).
But, I am not regretting my decision to buy an Apimaye nuc. It is working out well.


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## BadBeeKeeper (Jan 24, 2015)

JWPalmer said:


> ...BeeHAVERS buy Flowhives...


Is that still a 'thing'?


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## robson1015 (Oct 29, 2017)

I piss off the front porch every day and there are always many bees in that spot attracted to the urine...


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## pressure9pa (Feb 14, 2016)

joebeewhisperer said:


> When I was a kid my Dad showed me an Old-Country method for "coursing" bees (what most ppl call bee-lining). He took a tin can with no lid, dropped in a corn cob, then peed in it. He said we had to leave it, but if I passed it, to refresh it. ;D
> 
> After about 2 weeks there was a bit of material that exuded from the husks that had been around the corn kernels. The honey bees (and no other bees) were working it. He eventually found a bee tree, but we accelerated the process by melting a small piece of comb. That was a fun Sunday afternoon.
> 
> He learned this method from his grandfather who likely learned it from his father, who came over from Switzerland in 1869. If any of my ancestors knew what I spend on sugar, styrofoam boxes and such, they would shake their heads in disbelief. They were,..... well, ....frugal. Yep frugal. Like, finding a bee tree with a corn cob and pee frugal


Forgive me. I find this method fascinating, but I'm failing to connect it to bee-lining. Is the idea simply that if bees are working the corncob as comb then there must bee a population of bees nearby? Or are you actually able to orient as to the direction they're coming from or going to? My apologies, I've been known to be a little slow in putting things together.


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## joebeewhisperer (May 13, 2020)

pressure9pa said:


> Forgive me. I find this method fascinating, but I'm failing to connect it to bee-lining. Is the idea simply that if bees are working the corncob as comb then there must bee a population of bees nearby? Or are you actually able to orient as to the direction they're coming from or going to? My apologies, I've been known to be a little slow in putting things together.


When someone has a question it's usually because I didn't communicate properly. My wife has always been "my interpreter".  

Yes, it's to obtain the bee's direction. The corncob (or specifically the material exuded from the corn grain "cuticle") is nothing more than bait. I'm sure you can find them a lot quicker with sugar water as it will attract a bunch in a short time. This was an exercise in patience. 

side note: I was raised around a lot of depression-era folks and I sometimes try to pass along oddities I learned from people who spent the remainder of their lives totally prepared for any economic situation. I guess I imagine that someday, someone might be walking through a woodland and remember how to cut wood shingles for a house, or finding bees in the woods when there is virtually nothing with which to bait them. lol


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## pressure9pa (Feb 14, 2016)

joebeewhisperer said:


> When someone has a question it's usually because I didn't communicate properly. My wife has always been "my interpreter".
> 
> Yes, it's to obtain the bee's direction. The corncob (or specifically the material exuded from the corn grain "cuticle") is nothing more than bait. I'm sure you can find them a lot quicker with sugar water as it will attract a bunch in a short time. This was an exercise in patience.
> 
> side note: I was raised around a lot of depression-era folks and I sometimes try to pass along oddities I learned from people who spent the remainder of their lives totally prepared for any economic situation. I guess I imagine that someday, someone might be walking through a woodland and remember how to cut wood shingles for a house, or finding bees in the woods when there is virtually nothing with which to bait them. lol


Very interesting. Thanks for the clarification and the quick response. I of course now have to try this, whether I try to actually find the source of the bees or not.


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## joebeewhisperer (May 13, 2020)

pressure9pa said:


> Very interesting. Thanks for the clarification and the quick response. I of course now have to try this, whether I try to actually find the source of the bees or not.


I was out back an hour ago mixing 5 gal buckets of sugar water and looking around thinking, “there has to be a corn cob lying around here somewhere”. 😂


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## pressure9pa (Feb 14, 2016)

I'm actually now wondering if a urine-soaked corn cob should be standard in a swarm trap.


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## joebeewhisperer (May 13, 2020)

pressure9pa said:


> I'm actually now wondering if a urine-soaked corn cob should be standard in a swarm trap.


U.S Patent Pending (5/12/2021)


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## jimmyb5470 (Jun 1, 2021)

This may help, I noticed the bees are attracted to urine and I have dogs and it worries me theyll get stung. I want to attract the bees to the garden, so I had a radicle idea, I pee in a bottle and tip it on my compost heap this has two effects it attracts the bees to a place where my dogs cant get to, but also it aids the composting process! do it every day to build it up on the compost or area which is out the way and the bees go there instead.


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## DavidBrown1212 (May 10, 2021)

I have long noticed that bees are attracted to urine of all species, I highly suspect they can use the nitrogen to make a protein, like cattle or other pupating insects. In this study, they supplemented soldier fly with ammonium nitrate.




__





Managing high fiber food waste for the cultivation of black soldier fly larvae - npj Science of Food


Increases in global human population are leading to increasing demands for food production and waste management. Insect biomass is a sustainable alternative to traditional animal feeds when insects are produced on lignocellulosic by-products. Resources high in lignocellulose have high carbon to...




www.nature.com


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## Tadpole4973 (Jun 20, 2021)

robson1015 said:


> I piss off the front porch every day and there are always many bees in that spot attracted to the urine...


Same here there a whole flower bed and they are right where I peed


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## rdimanin (Jan 17, 2020)

JWPalmer said:


> BeeKEEPERS tend to be frugal. BeeHAVERS buy Flowhives and tend to spend a lot on money on equipment (and bees).
> But, I am not regretting my decision to buy an Apimaye nuc. It is working out well.


Using Apimaye, Technosetbee & Anel poly hives. No more wood. Why? 20% more honey produced & 30% less honey consumed during winter.


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