At 09:08 AM 6/4/98 -0500, you wrote:
 
>I frequently see my bees in the "mineral" feeder for my cattle.   Cattle
"mineral" is mostly salt, with calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, and trace
minerals.  I've always assumed the bees were there for a reason.
 
Hi Steve and Bee Friends,
 
I think Honeybees are attracted to salt or chlorides.  A  one pound coffee
can full of rock salt to a 55 gal drum of water with floats will keep bees
out of stock tanks if they are any distance away. A few ounces of household
bleach will do the same and helps keep bees out of back yard pools.
 
Sometimes when working in the bees and you get hot and sweaty bees will
land on your hands and actually bite, not sting, (but it feels like they
are attempting to sting), on areas of the body that are especially rank or
wet with perspiration like around a leather watch band, between the
fingers, and around, how do you say it, the wave O's, (private parts).
Panic sets in and many bees are killed when only looking for salt.
 
Beekeepers are not the only one's that bees look to for salt and once a
beekeepers witness what they can do to a sweaty horse a different attitude
about horses and bees is for certain.   A horse that attracts bees is not
attacked by the bees but is plainly driven mad by them as they will fly in
and out of their ears and nose which must be to the horse the same as
setting off a firecracker to a sleeping person. They just go ballistic and
if they can't get away from the bees will in a short time be covered with
the foam of fear. Their body temperature raises to critical levels and they
soon collapse and will sometimes die having never been stung.  Granted you
can go a lifetime and never have a problem with horses and bees, but I can
tell all from witnessing  the above in a small pasture and a horse and one
bee hive that co existed for thirty years without a problem. The hive was
twenty yards away from the fence and was not being worked at the time. In
this case the horse was removed to a different pasture and was returned a
week or so later with no problem. (I moved the hive.)<G>
 
I have another story about a stud horse and honey bees but since it was
told to me by a President of the United States I can not be sure it is True
and will leave it for another time. Of course he was only a state Governor
at the time so maybe it could be True. I'll save it anyway, just in case.
 
Back to Minerals... for several seasons I included trace minerals in my bee
diets. I can't say they increased production more then 5% +- but at the
time it seemed a good idea. Don't know if any beekeepers are doing this
today. One thing that always amazed me in visiting with several
professional Insectary operators was that they include some extras in their
insect diets, TANG, the spaceman's tea, and none of them had any idea if it
was necessary, it was something they just did. So adding electrolytes and
trace minerals to honey bee diets because it does no harm may be a good
idea. If you were selling the diet it sure would like good on the label.<G>
 
 
ttul, the OLd Drone
Los Banos, California
http://beenet.com