Bees

All of a sudden I have bees all over my humming bird feeders. Never had that problem before. I don't know what to do HELP!

It sounds like the nector is dripping out of the feeder. I seem to get ants and bees only with leaky feeders.... the smell probably attracts them. The feeders that have the rubbers stoppers seem to leak no matter how tight the stopper is. Maybe there's a trick to getting them drip free ... but I haven't figured it out.

Perhaps just taking it down and giving it a good cleaning will help.

Thanks poppysue,
I have tried cleaning and washing them as much as 2 times a week in fact someone told me to spray "pam" on the hook which did help with the ants but right now I just brought them in the house hoping the bees will " hit the road". Is too bad for my little friends.One thing I am wondering is if this is just seasonal. Our weather is cooling off maybe they will start to leave I hope!

LittleShima,

Just be glad you have bees. Many places don't. Kind of like frogs...many places don't. We killed them off.

Where I live if I see a bee it is one in a thousand. We use to have two large bee farms here. My neighbors with their spray this and kill that have made sure they are a rare event today.

Another item seldom to be seen here now are the large mulit-colored Dragonflys.

Yepper let's all just go out and grab another can of RAID. What the heck...it's only one more bug anyway.

EDIT: Sorry to have gotten off topic. And by no means does my reply reflect upon you. This year my grapefruit tree had a ton of flowers....this year my grapefruit are down by 90% over just 5 years ago. While it is an older Duncan it is not that old yet to stop producing.

This message was edited Nov 16, 2003 11:23 AM

LittleS,
I know how frustrating this can be with the hummingbird feeders. I really can't offer input on the bees but as far as the ants there is a product called tangle foot that you can use. I have never used it but I have ready many good things about it. It's nontoxic. Just make sure not to put this on anything that the hummers sit/roost on because they will get stuck to it. It's sticky so the ants and any other crawling bugs stick to it as they try to reach the nectar. People/orchards also use it to line the trunks of their fruit trees in areas that have crawling pests that would try and climb the tree to cause damage.
As far as the leaking... I'm guessing that the reason lots of hummingbird feeders leak is because of the change in pressure within the nectar resevoir. The sunlight causes the liquid and air inside to heat up, which in turn expand. When these expands they have no where to go but out. I don't know if this would work. I have yet to try it but will try it as son as temps warm up. Maybe you can wrap the resevoir in something that reflects light. I think aluminum foil might confuse the hummers but I plan on trying it. Slow intruductionof course. Maybe just wrapping or painting the resevoir with something bright white will be enough to prevent heat building up. Cool nights and warm days might be enough to still cause leakage though. Obviously as effective as it would sound you can't paint the red part of the feeder white. As you all know, it would lose it's attraction to the hummers.

The other thing that I don't think too many people think about is the temperature of the nectar when you refill it. This might be the leading cause for feeder leaks. It should not be cold but it should not be hot either. If you pull it out of the fridge and fill your feeder it will leak. Have you ever pulled an empty jug of milk out of the fridge, placed it on your countertop with its cap on and left it alone? After a few minutes you will have an inflated jug. This is just air. Imagine the nectar. It would do the very same thing in the feeder only the feeder has no seal like the jug. I might have given too much info but it won't hurt to try it. Good luck

BugFreak

DWO, this document may be of interest to you. The diseases mentioned in it are far more destructive to bee colonies than pesticides. I can't speak for Florida, but up here there are many, many orchards producing everything from apples to peaches to pears and everything in between. The orchardists I know are well aware of the importance of bees and strive to protect them. Many of them maintain their own bee colonies. Give it a read.

http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/PDFs/Diseases_of_Honey_Bees_PM.pdf