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Honeybees Love My Biochar! (A Mystery)

 
Douglas Alpenstock
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Well, this is just crazy. I have a couple pails of fresh, dry biochar that were saturated with Vitamin P and left to molder a few weeks. I set them outside and suddenly there's a constant conveyor belt of honeybees coming and going. What on Earth are they after? I have it on good authority my Vitamin P doesn't smell like flowers.

bees-on-biochar.png
honey bees visiting urine soaked charcoal
 
Nancy Reading
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That's fascinating! I know very little about honey bees but am intrigued to see if we can work this one out.

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Burra Maluca
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When did you last check your blood sugars?

It's possible that there is glucose in the pee and the bees are trying to collect it.

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Douglas Alpenstock
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Burra Maluca wrote:When did you last check your blood sugars?

It's possible that there is glucose in the pee and the bees are trying to collect it.


Hm! That's a curious idea. I thought maybe they were after minerals or something.

I have an annual physical exam that includes a full lab work-up. No concerns on that front.  

I suppose the alkaline nature of char might mean that any amount of glucose might be absorbed into the char itself and not be decomposed by bacteria. Since this is early season, with no flowers at all and nothing but poplar catkins for them to feed on, they might be interested in any source of "nectar" however meager.
 
Mike Barkley
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I have noticed many times honeybees are attracted to pee spots. They are scent driven so that probably explains it. Why they seem to like that smell is beyond my human brain.

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Jill Dyer
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Not up with this biochar stuff, Vitamin P is a flavenoid, and excreted from our bodies from digested foods. It's in coffee and the bees get addicted to it if I'm not careful disposing of the used grounds.
So whether an extract of Vitamin P or actual urine, the result is the same.  Who knew!  A further search on line produces academic articles detailing a few of the benefits that the bees get from it.

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Douglas Alpenstock
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Oh wow, Vitamin P is an actual thing! I had no idea, I was just joking around.
 
Jill Dyer
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Hi Douglas - I did wonder, but my fingers itched go find out if this was a "thing".  I hate not knowing. . . and whilst I have your ear - can I use the charcoal from the wood stove as biochar?  Risk of bushfire prevents burning anything outside.  Ta!

Life's too short, eat desert first! [Source of quote unknown]
You have to be warped to weave [ditto!]

 
Douglas Alpenstock
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Jill - Sure you can. If it's fully cooked char it'll make a tinkly sound and wash off your hands with water alone. More ideas here:
https://permies.com/t/73894/Making-biochar-wood-stove
 
Anne Miller
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You are not the first person to ask this question:

https://permies.com/t/164081/Honeybee-biochar

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Tereza Okava
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[quote=Burra Maluca]When did you last check your blood sugars?[/quote]
Yes, this was exactly what I thought too! Diabetes mellitus got its name from how it used to be diagnosed in the (bad) old days- by tasting the pee to see if it was sweet, like honey.
 
Douglas Alpenstock
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Anne Miller wrote:You are not the first person to ask this question:

https://permies.com/t/164081/Honeybee-biochar


Good find, Anne.

The thread describes exactly the same bee behaviour I'm observing. It must be the salt (sodium) they're after, since they have access to a water pond. They also don't go anywhere near the pails of dry, uncharged char.
 
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