My guess is that the bees are first drawn to the moisture in the grounds. However, from our own work and that of others, we know that bees get a buzz from caffeine, just like us. Obviously, as Aaron posted, too much weirds out spiders - but spiders aren't insects, so not sure the data point holds. Given body size though, a little bit of coffee is a LOT to an insect or spider.
Give bees a controlled, low dose of caffeine, and they become more alert, learn faster, do their tasks better. Give them a bit more and they become obviously jittery.
We also know that bees can become conditioned to various chemicals, so it wouldn't surprise me if this were a two-step issue. Bees looking for water find moist coffee. Bees prefer still sources of water over fast, moving water in which they can drown. When we need to keep bees away from hot tubs, we often put a water drip over a bed of gravel - bees seem to love it, easy access, no risk of falling in.
So, I'm guessing bees find wet coffee grounds to be a convenient and safe source of moisture. And since they've a great olfactory system, they may even be attracted to some of the volatiles coming off the grounds. However, while getting the coffee water, it's likely they get a caffeine buzz. That may encourage them to come back while the moisture is still there. In essence we do this to them in the lab. Honey bees become caffeine addicts.
J.J. Bromenshenk
Bee Alert
Missoula, Mt
-----Original Message-----
From: Aaron Morris <[log in to unmask]>
To: BEE-L <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tue, Mar 18, 2014 7:08 am
Subject: Re: [BEE-L] Bees Working Spent Coffee Grounds
On Tue, Mar 18, 2014 at 9:00 AM, Steve Petrilli
asked:
why the honey bees were massed on piles of spent coffee grounds
> ?
>
> Pertinent info about half way through the fluff piece at:
http://tinyurl.com/nkskfms
Aaron Morris - thinking nothing beats the first cup o'coffee in the
morning (which I'm enjoying as I type)!
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