BEE'S AROUND MY HUMMER FEEDER

Does anyone else have this problem. The poor Hummers have to compete with the Bee's for thier food. I brought in all of the feeders and soaked them and cleaned them out real good....The Bee's are still hanging out.

Help!!

Deann

Hi deann, Try moving it to a completely different spot not too close to this area. Let us know if that works.

Look more like wasps to me!

Resin

This message was edited Aug 18, 2008 2:22 PM

Bees are species in the family Apidae (best known is the Honey Bee Apis mellifera, but also bumble bees in the genus Bombus), wasps are in the family Vespidae (genera Vespa, Vespula, Dolichovespula, etc.).

Resin

This message was edited Aug 18, 2008 2:22 PM

Sorry, nope, they're not Honey Bees - they don't have such strongly demarcated black-and-yellow banding on their abdomens, they have broader dark bands, less sharply edged, and also a furry thorax; compare these pics:

Honey Bees:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:CharlesLam_-_Yummy_(by-sa)_(1).jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Abeille-bee-profil.JPG

Wasps:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Wasp_August_2007-2.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Wasp_January_2008-2.jpg

Resin

This message was edited Aug 18, 2008 2:23 PM

I have heard that they (bees/wasps) are attracted to the yellow feeder port.
Maybe try a different color feeder.
Mine are all solid red, and I only have had a few bothering mine.
My two cents worth, when I was a kid, we called them "yellowjackets" (wasps)
GM

This message was edited Aug 18, 2008 3:21 PM

Resin

FYI......These little pests that are hanging out on my hummer feeders are Yellow Jackets.....

I posted this question on Hummingbirds and Butterflys forum and someone told me to spray with Pam.....Guess what......It works.....No more Yellow Jackets....

Thanks for all of your suggestions...

Deann

I guess I should have left the "spray your h-bird feeder with Pam" portion of my post up!

Hey!!! I just found this. I'm going to try because I get all kinds of critters at the feeder, including sparrows and finches. It doesn't deter the birds? Great!

Do you spray the entire feeder or the pole or hanger? Thanks, GM :)

I've never had to do this myself but just remember it's regular Pam not any of the other flavors.

GM... I spray whatever it's hanging from.
I used generic cooking spray goo and it worked as well as Pam.
I had ants crawling on my h-bird feeder and sprayed the entire length of the shepard hook, and the plastic "loop" thing I hang the feeder on the hook with. Problem solved.
I have several of the suction cup hooks that I hang plastic h-bird feeders in windows from... I just sprayed the hook on top of the feeder and the hook part of the suction cup hook. Again, no more ants.
I'd even been getting ants on my seed feeders because the seed has cherries in it... I sprayed the hook the feeder was hanging from and haven't seen an ant on the feeder since.


This message was edited Aug 18, 2008 4:14 PM

I've read that diluting the nectar to 5-1 or even 6-1 can help with the bee problem. I have wasps visiting my feeder occasionally and have noticed the hummers fly a short distance away until they leave. It seems they are trying to give them a wide berth.

also have ants.. since there are other birds that visit the feeders I would be afraid to spray anything where they land. The feeder I have has a little moat but it doesn't keep water in it long enough to be of any real help.

I live in Tucson, Az with killer bees. I've tried a variety of feeders to keep the bees off and the ones that work the best are the feeders with a slanted base, so the bees can't reach the nectar. Occasionally they try and I usually do a lot of water hosing of the feeder, since the bees are sooooo aggressive. Stay away from feeders that drip.

I went outside after posting to spray the feeder and there were 6 wasps on it. I stood back to watch what happened and LO!!! No more wasps! LOL Awesome. I used the grilling formula. I went out after 20 mins. or so and watched a couple more show up. They spiralled around for a second, then flew away.