Discussion»Questions»Animals (Wild)» Other than shooting (euthanizing) them, do you have any suggestions for keeping the bees out of my hummingbird feeder?
Are we really talking (honey or bumble) bees or are we talking wasps like yellow jackets? Both will be attracted to the sugar syrup but can be dealt with in different ways. But are they really that big an issue? We've got a couple of feeders hanging on our porches and there's an occasional visitor of each species but the yellow jackets don't get hot and heavy until after the humming birds scoot south for the winter. The honey bees don't seem to be a problem either. The few that do show up seem to get along fine with the birds. (We do mix our own sugar syrup for the feeders and make it a bit on the "light" side because the full strength stuff can damage the birds' kidneys . . .)
In my area, we have a big problem with bees (regular bees and wasps), as do my neighbors. A few years back, my roomie was coming home and there was a blanket of bees in my driveway. There had to have been thousands of them because the entire area in front of my house was black. She didn't even think she can get into the house. On another occasion I was hearing what I thought was thw weed eater but it ended up being hundreds of bees on the inside of my front room windows.
The point I'm trying to make is it isn't just a couple of bees. There's a swarm of them around the feeder now and I'm trying to figure out what to do to get rid of them other than removing the Hummingbird feeder. I've tried spraying, using the garden hose on them but nothing really works. If there was just a couple of them, it wouldn't be a problem. You are fortunate you haven't experienced this problem.
Without being too specific can you tell us where you're located? Reason that I ask is that this is the wrong time of the year for honeybees to be swarming in the northern hemisphere. And if they're not honeybees then what you're seeing is (technically) not a swarm. I'm guessing yellowjackets?
If yellow jackets then to deal with them you first need to find the nest (they tend to be territorial but they may be more than one nest around). Just watch them flying around the feeder and occasionally some will be taking off to go back to the nest. If you can find any doing that then follow at a discrete distance until you locate the nest's entrance hole (yellow jackets tend to live in the ground with a single entrance hole). BE VERY CAREFUL AS THEY SEE THIS AS A THREAT AND WILL ATTACK IN MASS! If you can locate the access hole to the nest (keep your distance, seriously) wait for it to get dark, several hours after dusk is best. Then you can pour something nasty directly into that nest entrance (at least a quart, maybe even a half gallon) and that will take them out. My grandfather preferred kerosene "back in the day" but that's frowned upon by the government these days. You should be able to find an appropriate agent at your local home improvement store or farm and garden store though (NOT the spray stuff as you won't be able to "deliver" it fast enough). I've even used methyl alcohol in one case (a LOT of methyl alcohol). Or you could contact an exterminator to deal with them.
If for some odd reason they do happen to be honeybees see if you can find a local beekeeper. They'll be interested in actually moving the colony(ies) to their bee yard (at no cost to you) which would be a win for you, the apiarist and the bees.
The last thing you want to do is kill bees of any kind. They are pollinators and without them, there could be serious affects on food production. The collapse of so many bee colonies is almost a dire problem. I would contact the county and have them refer you to the proper authorities that can come and remove them.
I have contacted the County and they told me they only come out for ground nesting bees and I haven't seen any nests in the ground and a site I found said those bees come out in the Spring.
I have see their honeycomb-like nests and when I do I destroy them.
I'm contemplating calling companies to have THEM spray.
Salt and Red Pepper 