They are awful! The especially like the little wally world feeders. I have ordered bee guards, but will that really keep them away?

Weird thing is, it has been cool here, they usually don't come out unless it is warm.

Annoying!



Laura
Rancho Santa Margarita
So Cal, Zone 9b

See what I mean




A little scary!

Laura
Rancho Santa Margarita
So Cal, Zone 9b

YIKES!!! Very scary!!! Wish I knew of something that would help...

Bill McClure
Zone 6A

Laura,

That is a little scary. It made me gasp.

On the other hand they look like nice healthy pollinating honeybees. And that's a good thing.

Good Luck with them!

 

Laura,

That is scary. I have a bumble bee problem here. They are ripping the ends of my Coccineas and consuming all the nectar. Cunning little creatures!

Suchie

Laura, this problem comes up from time to time. I was plagued with honeybees all last winter. Every time there was a slight warm-up, they swarmed over certain feeders that are hummer favorites. Rather than feed the bees, I have been providing feeders that are relatively bee-resistant such as the Opus model that is shaped like a light bulb. It is now available from Perky-Pet [model 440-6], which apparently bought out Opus. Model 441-6 has the same bottom and it should also be bee resistant.

http://www.perkypet.com/store/product.asp?dept%5Fid=112&pf%5Fid=440%2D6&mscssid=NUTKWRTMT50P8G538Q02PURFE2WX6568

If that link gets broken up in your mail program, try this one:

http://tinyurl.com/2b4gqg

Please note that the cheap Wal-Mart model that resembles it is not bee-resistant. I have also used a couple of other feeders, including the Mini-hummzinger and the dish-type one from Heritage Farms http://www.heritagefarms.biz/birdfeeders/hummingbird/. It took the birds a little bit of time to get accustomed to other types of feeders, but ultimately, the birds accepted them.

I also used Perky-Pet models 211 and 216 with some success. Bees apparently didn't get anything from them and gave up. Models 271 and 279 also seem to resist bees.

In the past, I have not liked the dish-type feeders because the birds don't seem to prefer them. However, I had a crowd of hummers last winter and I got desperate when the bees swarmed in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nancy L Newfield
Casa Colibrí
Metairie, Louisiana USA
USDA Zone 9

Wow, I've never seen that before. Hope your not alergic? The cheapy wlmart feeders probably attracts them the most because of the free flowing sugar water, try another type of feeder until you get your hands on the bee proofing stuff.

Pam NJ 6B

Thanks all, I will look in to those feeders Nancy.

The funny thing is they are feeding from where the seam is, not at the yellow flower! That is the weird thing.

I do have a saucer feeder and a few other larger ones that the pretty much leave alone, I guess I will have to take these down for now.

I did look at Lowes today when I was there, but they really had nothing.

It has been overcast here for the last 2 weeks, that is weird because we usually only get the bees when it is sunny.

Ok, going to take them all down.

Thanks again,



Laura
Rancho Santa Margarita
So Cal, Zone 9b

Hey Laura, now that I think about it, whenever I was holding a feeder like that last summer waiting for a hummer to come eat out of it, I remember now that sometimes the liquid would drip onto my lap, even when I was holding it at such an angle that it couldn't have come out of the hole in the center of the flower... Also, when I clean and refill that type, sometimes it seems like it's getting tight, then it snaps loose and I have to start tightening it again. So they must not screw together all the way perfectly right. (Oh well, what can you expect for 99 cents though?!)

Hope you'll be able to put them back up again after the bees have gone...

Bill McClure
Zone 6A

Before you take those feeders down, you might try removing them to a completely different part of your property. But those kind will leak theres no way around that. Hummers will find the new location and I hope the bees dont.

Steve
Martinsville, In
Heat zone 6
Sunset zone 35

Since I live on a small tract house lot, I really don't have anywhere to move them.

I did take them down for now and have added a few others around and make sure my larger feeders are filled.

I will just have to wait the bees out.



Laura
Rancho Santa Margarita
So Cal, Zone 9b