anything to deter bees from hummingbird feeders ?

[woodyard]

I had a lady call today about honeybees covering her hummingbird feeders up and keeping the birds away. I told her I didn't know of a solution for her. They are evidently a wild colony since no known beekeeper in area. Anyone had any experience using anything that might deter the bees,but keep hummingbirds from being deterred also.thanks Woodyard

[castlebee]

I have had success smearing insect repellant around the feeder holes. I did this before I was a beekeeper. Since becoming a beekeeper, the bees have never again gone to the feeder, thus I do not know if it would kill the bees. I doubt it would be a problem because it is not in the sugar water--it is only rubbed around the hole, thus shouldn't get near the mouth of the hummingbird and the bees do not land there.

[Jim Fischer]

She needs a better hummingbird feeder, one that
does not put sugar water where the bees can get
at it.

There are some cheap plastic ones that are
simply "Broken As Designed" (or, "BAD", as we
say in the lab) if she invests in a better-quality
(more expensive, sadly) feeder, the bees will
pay no attention to it.

The key factor is the depth of the tube. Humming
Birds can get into deeper holes than bees can.

[David Stewart]

I agree W/Jim. I've got several hummingbird feeders and the only one accessible to honey bees was a cheap plastic model that had simple slots for the birds to use as opposed to plastic flowers. Easily converted this one by inserting a small 1/2" piece of "stir stick" (small straw looking things used to stir your coffee/tea) and used tape to hold it in place and cover the remaining portion of the slot. Took the hummers about 5 seconds to figure out how to use and eliminated the bee (and Yellow Jacket) problem. Yet another example of how a beekeeper is "thrifty" with a few scraps from the shop and duct tape.

David

[power napper]

Some of my humming bird feeders were not tight enough, all i had to do was reseat the flower and push while turning slightly and it quit leaking. I agree that the higher quality feeder is the way to avoid problems.

[woodyard]

Thanks guys. I informed the lady of your observations. She said she learned more about honeybees in a five minute phone conversation than she would have ever imagined and she was going to try your approach.
.

[jim b]

i mixed my bird food 1:1 once and my bees moved in, of course. Since then, i stick to 4:1 water:sugar and have no problem. i just made a batch of 1:1 to try again to see what happens this time. jim

[Tia]

It's those yellow flower heads on the feeder holes that are attracting the bees--they love yellow! The easiest solution of all: pop those yellow flower heads off the feeder. Problem solved. And JimB's proportions are right--1 part sugar to 3 or 4 parts water at most. 1:1 will make hummers sick after a while.