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Coco Quinn
Temple, TX, USA
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Does anyone have a solution for my problem? Here it is: Okay, so i have two bright red hummingbird feeders, not the ones below. We haven’t had a problem with bees, until now. Lately my neighbor cut down all of his flowering plants, so the bees have decided to take a visit over here. The first day there was only a few buzzing around my feeder closer to the ground, but then a couple of hours later there was a whole swarm, probably 30 bees all over the feeder! So then, i took the feeder inside, and of course all of the bees were angry. So they went to the other feeder, same problem. Of course, i was so mad that i couldn’t put out my hummingbird feeders. By the way, i like bees, and i don’t have a problem with them, except when they are on my hummers feeders and right by my door swarming. Anyways, i tried putting these other two feeders i had out, picture below. As you can see this feeder is pink, dark red, and green. Which i didn’t realize until now that the hummers only like bright red feeders like my other ones. So, i left the green ones out for a few days and no hummers came which really annoyed me after having seen a lot of them at my other feeders. So i thought i found a solution by putting out the green feeders, but turns out i didn’t. So now with the green ones there weren’t any bees, but their weren’t any hummers either. So now i don’t know what to do, and I’m asking y’all for help. Any suggestions?
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Hummingbird And Bee Problem
Okay so you have a huge bee problem, you could try waiting a few days for them to leave, I don’t know what type of bee you have there, if there honey bees it probably would not work. Also take down all of the other red things on your house so they leave. I was thinking maybe some decoy, maybe putting the decoys away from your feeder, drawing them away. Sorry about the bees, I hope they leave.
Every year Sugar Ants like to drink the sugar water some of them dying and then bad bacteria grows in the feeder. I don’t know what do to about them ether.
Yes, they are honey bees. I could get a decoy, but i am trying to get them completely out of my yard. I don’t have any red things around or on my house. Thank you, i hope they leave too! Sorry about the Sugar Ants too! The other thing with the green feeders too is that even if you fill it with sugar water all the way to the top the hummingbirds beaks can’t reach in! I’m pretty sure i got ripped off with the feeders below, with that reason, and the other reason that i looked on the website of the store i went to and the feeder looked completely different!😡On another note, how are you and your family doing?
You can try installing bee and ant guards, however they will still try to get the sugar, but it will be much more difficult. If you do decide to use the ant or/and bee guards, I suggest putting out other feeders and flowers specifically fo the bees. Bees are highly attracted to yellow, so if you painted your green hummingbird feeders yellow, place them somewhere far away as possible from your house and other hummingbird feeders, and install bee guards to your other hummingbird feeders, the bees might leave the guarded nectar feeders and inhabit the yellow ones instead.
I have ant motes, not sure if that’s what you mean. I don’t really have a problem with them, but i know your talking to Micah about that. What type of bee guards do you mean? I could try those… I understand putting something specifically for the bees, but i really don’t know if i can do that. Me and my family are always in our back and front yard which aren’t that big, but average size. If i had a big field or something i would definitely do that, as i have come to that conclusion to! I could try using a bee guard, as in what? The other thing i was thinking of was getting bee proof feeders and getting a bright color like red so the hummers will come back, and eventually the bees would give up and leave. But I’m not sure if it would be that easy, and buying a new feeder/feeders would be my last option. I’m so glad everyone is helping out, it really means a lot to me! 🙂
I will send you some hyper links of bee guards.
Here’s one:
https://www.amazon.com/Perky-Hummingbird-Feeder-Guard-Replacement/dp/B01MT35YD8/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=Hummingbird+feeder+bee+guards&qid=1587771558&sr=8-2
Cool, I’ll look into it! Thank you!
https://www.amazon.com/More-Birds-501-Replacement-Hummingird/dp/B076C1KXJK/ref=sr_1_2?crid=297Y77LLQSEBG&dchild=1&keywords=bee+guards+for+hummingbird+feeders&qid=1587772367&sprefix=bee+guards%2Caps%2C173&sr=8-2
The website on keeping bees off your feeder also has a few options.
(Sorry I couldn’t send you that sooner. It was dinner time.) Also, in an earlier comment, you said that the hummingbirds can’t even reach the sugar water inside, even if it’s filled to the top. The reason it seems like they cannot reach is because hummingbirds, (like butterflies), use their tongues to sip nectar, instead of their beaks. Their tongues can reach further down into tight spaces, so although it looks like they cannot reach, they most likely can. (The only reason I know this is because I saw a hummingbird feeder on Amazon that had bad reviews saying the hummingbirds could not reach, and the seller told them what I just told you.) 😉
(Oops. Didn’t mean to post the slo-mo of hummers drinking twice. 🥴) I hate it when I do that.
You can also just buy nectar feeders with built in bee guards.
You could try planting other flowering plants in your yard away from the feeders. The bees are clearly just trying to get food so if they had another food source they wouldn’t need to come to your feeders. Also, if that doesn’t work (or you want to attract more hummers) there are plenty of plants that you can plant for hummingbirds. We have lots of plants like that in our yard (and no hummer feeders yet) and we have quite a few hummingbirds and at least one known nest.
Hope you find something that works!
Hope this helps! 😊
It’s okay, i mean you need to eat! I knew that they drank from their tongues, i just guess i didn’t think about it lol. Anyways, I’ll look into the links you posted and tell you if any of them work. Thank you for your help!
One last thing, will the replacement hummingbird flowers keep bees off? And if so do you know how?
If you mean feeders, (😉 I hate the auto-correction too) there is a sort of plastic mesh dome on the outside. The bees have a harder time reaching the nectar, but the hummingbirds tongues will still fit. If you are thinking about getting a new feeder, get a dish feeder rather than a bottle feeder. Bees cannot reach into dish feeders, but they will try to get in through the bee guards, and might even be able to.
If you mean feeders, (😉 I hate the auto-correction too) there is a sort of plastic mesh dome on the outside. The bees have a harder time reaching the nectar, but the hummingbirds tongues will still fit. Bees also have a harder time reaching the nectar from a tray feeder than a tube feeder. See:
🙇🏽♀️ Ugh! Why do all my comments keep posting twice?!
Omg, auto correct is so annoying! Don’t worry about the comments. And yes, I already found a dish feeder that i really like, and i hope it works. I will post a picture and update once i get it.
K! Glad I could help! I really hope the bees leave you alone. 😖 😠😡😤
I’m frustrated at them for you.
And I’m not even the one with the problem.
Hi all, Thanks for sharing – Please feel free to send questions about feeders and feeding birds to Project FeederWatch, or via their public gallery. Folks over there have more information specific to feeding birds and the community is more feeder-bird minded. If you have questions, Project Feederwatch can also help via email at FeederWatch@cornell.edu.
🥰Thanks for feeling the pain with me, lol. 😡
Thanks Holly!
😊 I’m happy I could help you, coco. And tanks, Holly. That’s very helpful.
I don’t know FeederWatch had a photos gallery!
Yep, me either! I just posted one photo on there lol.