Hummingbird Feeder

I have a plastic hummingbird feeder which I fill with the red syrup you can buy at WalMart. When I took it down to refill it, I found lots of dead bees inside the bottom container. I had noticed the bees flying around the feeder & was happy to be finally attracting bees for my garden. However, I felt terrible when I found I had killed all of them. Maybe thats why we don't have our normal bee population. All the feeders are killing them. Anyway, does anyone know what might have caused this to happen.

The bees are attracted to the sugar. What I do is make my own food for the hummers... 4 parts water to 1 part sugar. No color is necessary. Boil the water then stir in the sugar until dissolved. Cool and add to feeder. In the summer I usually only put a small amount in the feeders and store the rest in the fridge. I take the feeders down every day or two and wash them thoroughly and I don'thave any problem with the bees and the feeders...

Some types of feeders allow the bees in more easily than others -- look for ones that have "bee guards" over the holes, kind of a plastic screen that the hummers can get their beak through, but bees can't get in. I'll look and see if I can find an example on the 'net and post it for you.

I just purchased a feeder from the Cracker Barrel store and it has a rubber cap type thing over the tube. I never thought about bees going for the food. Thanks for posting this!
I'll have to try that recipe for the nectar as well

I seem to remember my daughter buying "bee guards" at Wild Birds Unlimited. I don't have a problem with bees at my hummingbird feeder, but wasps drink the syrup. I don't mind, because they feed caterpillars to their young!

I make my own syrup too. My feeder holds 2 cups of syrup.

2 cups water, 1/2 cup sugar. I boil one cup water, turn off the heat, add sugar, stir until disolved, and then add one cup ice-cold water. The syrup is cool enough to go straight into the feeder.

I normally don't worry about the bee guards unless the bees become an extreme nuisance. I allow ants and some bees to feed from a hummingbird feeder. Some of the ants and bees inevitably drown. Hummingbirds don't live off of nectar alone; they also supplement their diet with some bugs. I suspect that some of the bugs in the nectar might provide a more balanced diet for the hummingbirds. I suspect some bugs hanging around the feeder might make some easy pickings if the hummingbird wants to catch and eat live bugs. I don't know if hummingbirds deliberately hunt and catch bugs but I've heard that autopsies of them have found bugs in their stomach; so apparently bugs are part of their diet whether it be deliberate or incidental. The bugs may provide important nutrients like protein and fat.

For some reason are hardly have any "bees" coming to my hummingbird feeders. In the past yellow jackets have been somewhat of a nuisance; but tolerable even without the guards.

Sometimes the hummingbirds and bees/yellow jackets will chase each other and I think that's interesting to watch.

That's what I do.

Some people claim that the red dye can cause cancer and tumors in hummingbirds.

Preservatives might help the nectar last longer but also might have some adverse health affects for the hummingbirds. So I choose to pass on the store-bought nectar with preservatives and dyes and choose to use plain sugar and water that has been boiled and cooled off. I change the nectar if I notice any cloudiness or stringy debris in the nectar. In cooler weather I will change the hummingbird nectar every week or two. Once it gets hot, the nectar often needs to be changed every three to five days.

Be careful to VERY THOROUGHLY RINSE OUT hummingbird feeders after you clean them because things like soap can very easily do harm and possibly even be fatal for a hummingbird.