How do I keep the bees from getting at the huming birds sugar water? The hummers have stopped comming. I have tons of bees at the feeders.
Mickey
Humming Bird food and honey bees
Does your feeder have yellow on it? If so, try using a red one.
Heard of a study that was underway to see how to decrease bee/wasp visits while not decreasing hummingbird visits to the feeders. As the study was ongoing, this was not a conclusion, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to try it. Seems that purple doesn't attract the bee/wasps as much as yellow does. So I removed all the yellow (bee guards & plastic petals) and spray painted these parts purple. It took two coats to get all the nooks and crannies. The purple survived the entire season enduring cleanings and the weather, the bee guards had some yellow showing through by the end of the season. Another spraying of purple and we were ready for 2007 arrivals. By the look of the migration map, I should have been able to spot one yesterday, but I was so busy working in the yard that I didn't sit down to watch. The food is out and ready for them.
I noticed a significant (to my mind, I didn't do statistics to actually determine if it was significant--leave that to the researcher) decrease in bees and wasps at my feeders. I have out at least 12 different feeders, on a 2 acre lot, and go through a lot of sugar water. I'm hoping to find an active hummingbird nest this year. So far have found only one nesst, and it was after the deciduous leaves colored and dropped from the branches. Alas, the hummingbird family were already heading farther south by then.
you can also just paint over the yellow with red nail polish...also spray with Pam...it doesn't bother the hummers and the bees can't cling to it.
At Wallyworld this past weekend, I saw a little cage that snaps over the feeder entry for about 98 cents.