What to Do About Bees on a Hummingbird Feeder

The hummingbird feeder should be all red to discourage bees.

Hummingbirds are a welcome sight to any garden, and feeders filled with sugar water can help bring them to your outdoor space. Unfortunately, sugar water also attracts bees. Bees swarm about a feeder, drinking all of the hummingbird food and scaring off the hummingbirds. Bees can be thwarted by tinkering with the sugar to water ratio and by the use of moats or guards.

Changing Sugar Water

Bees prefer sugar water that is sweeter than what hummingbirds prefer. To make hummingbird nectar, mix one cup of white granulated sugar with five cups of water. This should make it less palatable for the bees, according to Thomas G. Barnes, Ph.D., writing for the University of Kentucky. Another option is to place a shallow dish of one cup sugar to two parts water. Hummingbirds dislike super-sweet sugar water and do not like to drink out of shallow dishes. The super-sweet sugar water may cause the bees to leave the hummingbird feeder alone in preference for the dish.

Vacuuming

An immediate solution for wasps and bees at a feeder is to use a cordless vacuum cleaner to manually remove them from the feeder. Vacuuming should also kill the bees. Vacuuming bees prevents any scouts from going back to the hive and reporting to other colony members where to find sugar water.

Bee Guards

Bees cannot see the color red but they can see yellow. If there are any yellow parts on the feeder, remove them, paint red nail polish on them, or replace the feeder with an all-red one. Bee guards placed over the feeding nozzles or stations should also be red.

Warning

Never use insecticides or insect repellents on or near a hummingbird feeder. Since hummingbirds weigh only a few ounces, it takes a very little amount of insect repellent to sicken or kill a hummingbird. Even insect repellents safe to place on children's skin is too strong for hummingbirds. Also, do not use petroleum jelly on any part of the feeder. It is a common misconception that a dot of petroleum jelly will keep away ants and bees. But petroleum jelly can get into the hummingbird's feathers and prevent them from flying.

References

• Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History: Operation RubyThroat: Bees & Ants at Hummingbird Feeders
• University of Kentucky: Hummingbirds: An Attractive Asset to Your Garden; Thomas G. Barnes, Ph.D.
• "Hummingbirds of North America: Attracting, Feeding, and Photographing"; Dan True