Honey bees in the Kennels

[freefallgsp]

Hi all,

Quick question -- what's your take on bumblebees and honey bees drinking the urine in the kennel right away in the morning? Our kennel is attached to the house and the dogs live inside but the kennel is a way for us to do a "poop control" during the winter when it snows (thus I don't have to search for poop come March!). I spray the kennel daily with some cleaner and scrub it out in the morning but when I go out there there are these bumblebees and honey bees drinking the urine from that morning. My aunt who is a large animal vet (you know, horses and cattle) thought that one of my dogs might have Diabetes so we took a urine sample in of all the dogs and blood work just in case and the bees are picking up on it but there is nothing showing up in either tests.

I have also "googled" stuff about bees and urine but I cannot seem to find anything that would make sense. I've heard they use it to help build the walls in their hive and that sometimes bee farms spray the hives with cow urine to keep the bees healthy. Could this possibly be the same with the dog urine? They are not causing a problem to the dogs, birds, or my family but I guess you could say that I'm a little curious. Just wondering if anyone else is having the same phenomenon.

It's quite neat to see with the 50 or so bees that visit each morning. They typically leave after being there for roughly 20 minutes or so and then I don't see them until the evening.

Thanks,
Jessica