I've been battling bees for the past week. They are drawn to my hummingbird feeders due to the lack of spring blooms.
Rana K sent me several helpful ideas on how to dissuade the bees. All of my attempts to banish the bees from my feeders failed. I took down the feeders for a whole day. Bees went away. I mixed a fresh batch of sugar water and decreased the amount of sugar. Rehung the feeders a few feet away from the original spots. Bees came back. I took down the feeders again and waited another day. Mixed yet another batch of feed and hung a feeder in a completely different location. Birds are confused. Bees came back.
Sam probably had the best idea if I would've been patient enough to allow the sevin dust to do its thing. He literally threw sevin dust on the feeder while the bees were feasting. Several bees dropped off the feeder. And several more would've dropped had I not decided to take the feeder down before the birds tried to drink the sugar water polluted with sevin dust. (I can hear Sam muttering under his breath, "I told you so.") I didn't want to risk the birds getting sick if they consumed any of the dust.
And so it is with a heavy heart that I report that the hummingbirds are buzzing around the carport looking for their groceries. I am allergic to bees and am not going to take a chance on getting stung. I suppose I will try again in a couple of days. If the bees pull rank again then I will wave my white flag and be done with it.
5 comments:
Dang, sorry to hear that, but had to laugh at Sam and his Seven dust solution. If I remember correctly, one of those articles said the bee thing was more seasonal. Maybe just wait a couple of weeks. In the mean time, if you don't want to run the risk of the birds leaving, there's a nail up under the eave of Mama's house in front of that little window on the west side of the garage. You can put your feeder up there and keep the birds happy until the bees move on. I would, however, discuss this with the Grand Dame first or we will both be in trouble before I ever cross the Kimble County line.
Meant east side. You know, the one she looks out of when she's doing her Mrs. Kravitz imitation.
I put up a feeder this morning since it was cooler weather. The bees don't normally venture out until it is at least 80 degrees. Do I really want to listen to a lecture from the Grand Dame?? Hopefully the bees will move on...
OK, research says, Sevin will kill the hummingbirds, but it is also incredibly lethal to bees. It will actually kill an entire hive over night when bees carry the powder into their home. I'm not sure if there's a happy medium on this one.
I hate it when Sam is right. In the meantime, the bees haven't been hovering due to the cooler weather. About five hummingbirds are taking advantage of the feeder. Don't know where the rest of them went....
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