How to Stop Bees on a Hummingbird Feeder

Numerous bees can outcompete hummingbirds at feeders.

Hummingbirds add a bright, lively element to your yard, and they also help pollinate the flowers that they find there. A hummingbird feeder draws the hummingbirds to your property, but it can also draw bees. Bees look for honey the same way that a hummingbird does, and there can be so many of them that they prevent the hummingbirds from feeding. You can do several things to keep the bees away.

Things You'll Need

• Secondary hummingbird feeder
• Sugar

Instructions

1. Move the feeder. Bees tend to give up easily if the feeder is not exactly where they think it should be. Even moving the hummingbird feeder a few feet away can discourage them.

2. Remove the feeder for a day. The bees will search for it and then give up. The next day, return the feeder to its former location and the hummingbirds will quickly find it again.

3. Add a new feeder for the bees and fill it with syrup that is more sweet. Boil a sugar syrup that is one part sugar to three parts water and use that for the bees' feeder, while using a syrup that is one part sugar to five parts water for the hummingbirds. The bees are drawn to the sweeter syrup, leaving the hummingbird feeder alone.

4. Replace the hummingbird feeder with a model designed to keep bees away. Choose a hummingbird feeder that is designed to keep the syrup very low. While it is still accessible for hummingbirds, it is inaccessible for bees.

References

• How to Enjoy Hummingbirds: Keep Bees Away From Hummingbirds
• Hummingbirds: Hummingbird Feeders

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish