I had so many bees last year I rigged up a buffet for the bees. The bees have returned again this year only worse than last year. We live in a fairly dry climate and I think not only are they after the sweet nectar, but the moisture as well. The vessel is a 1 gal chick watering container. I used the ratio of 1 cup sugar to the gallon of water.


http://s102.photobucket.com/albums/m84/CalyptePhoto/?action=view&current=BeeProblem.flv


Karen
Southern California

Wow Karen... you certainly would have a bee problem if all those bees went to your hummingbird feeders. Clever solution.

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Farmer Steve
Deluz, CA usda zone 10a

OMG Karen!
That is almost unbelievable! I haven't had a problem with honey bees this year but I did last year. In fact this year I have seen very few bees of any type. My problem is the yellow jackets. They seem to like to build their nests near my feeders. I set up a bowl full of sugar water with a little apple juice added to entice them. Then I added just a scant drop of dish soap. In less than an hour I had 12 probably the whole nest that was in the cedear tree close to the feeder.

Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

OMG Karen!!! That was like a bad SCI FI movie!!! I will never complain about the bees here again. Maybe you should make honey?

Pam NJ 6B

It seems to be something exclusive to very dry western regions, and that makes a kind of sense. The only time you get anything like it is when a colony swarms.