Kerry wrote:
 
>   It often puzzles (or embarasses) beekeepers that their bees seem to
>   prefer tainted water supplies (neighbour's chlorinated hot tub, seepage
>   from compost heaps, or worse) to the pure supply provided (sometimes
>   only after the habit of using the other source has been established).
>
>   I'm speculating, but maybe the pure supply is just harder for a
>   scent-oriented bee to locate ("inolfactible" (?) like invisible), and
>   those water foragers with a distinct scent would gain more recruits than
>   others with a scentless water supply. (even with, or in spite of,
>   recruiting dances, wouldn't you agree Adrian?)
 
It is also possible that it is not the smell but the dissolved minerals that
is attractive to the bees.  Adrian noted that his father? or grandfather?
use to salt a wet area for the bees in response to a post of mine last year
about bees flying to salty ground around my cattle salt licks.  I think it
is possible that the seepage around the manure pile is attractive for its
minerals, although I do not discount your speculation about smell.
 
I for one am glad that my bees are used to the smell of cattle manure from
gathering water, (although it offends OUR sensibilities) because they are
completely unaffected by barn smells on me and my clothes when I go straight
from milking to bees.  Although I have read that manure smells can make them
aggressive I have almost always had absolutely no problem.  The one
exception was getting attacked one time as I drove directly in front of a
line of hives with the manure spreader.  However I have done this literally
hundreds of times before and since with no problem.
 
I would also note, as Jan Tempelman started to (his post was cut) that in
the spring WARM water from something dark is very much more attractive than
cold water.  I have a dump of old tires near the hives and they love the
water from them in the early spring.
 
Regards, Stan
 
PS  Three days ago I saw the first natural pollen being brought into the
hives (I'm in PEI, Canada).  Finally!