Deb does your feeder have yellow, plastic flowers on the openings? Bees are attracted to the yellow. If you do have the flowers, just snap them off and that may solve the problem. I have very few bees and wasps if my feeders don't have yellow on them.

Charlotte

If they looks like this . . .

{{gwi:997999}}

RUN!!!

Frank

Frank, I saw one of those with blue wings the other day, scared the sap out of me when it flew at me for swinging at it!

Have you ever heard of a wasp with, scratch that, A HUGE WASP, with a navy bluish tint?

Deb, try moving the feeder a few feet away. Wasps are dumb like that, they'll not find it for a week. If it's a Perky Pet Four Fountains model, remove the yellow bee guards.

If not, go for a Badminton Racquet! They work wonders! Just remember not to swing at sounds and take short backswings. Hummers sound like wasps when you're frightened of being stung and sometimes Hummers will sneak up behind you. My greatest fear when playing "Let's knock Yellow Jackets into pieces" is a Hummer in the swing path, not a little "it never dies after the first sting but just keeps stinging me" thing like a Yellow Jacket.

Although....that wouldn't be fun either. SO DON'T MISS, AND HIT WHAT YOU AIM FOR, AND AIM FOR WHAT YOU'RE GONNA HIT. ;)

If it looked like this,they are harmless. But yellowjackets will chase and sting you or a hummer I've noticed the hummers here chase the yellowjackets. I actually got stung tuesday so I wouldn't recommend swatting But they do go to the feeders if they are stickey . I put out the humzinger with the bee guards earlier today. I saw a yellowjacket on it this afternoon but he left after a bit because there was no sticky sugar. Or you can give them their own feeder. Sarah

Yeah, I noticed that the yellow jackets are out in force and have bothered my hummer, although she still comes back. The wasps and carpenter bees have chased her a few times but fortunately that hasn't deterred her.

I've been trying to make sure that the feeder doesn't get sticky on the outside, attracting them more. I tried the bee guards a couple times but my little one seemed to have some problems with them as she never really sits for long and she'd have to in order to aim right to get her beak through the grid to the nectar. I was thinking of using plain water in a spray bottle to spritz the outside of the base at least once or twice a day to rinse off any splashed or dribbled sugar/water that has accumulated.

I have noticed that if the bee is staying put in one area on the feeder and not moving around, the hummies won't be afraid to share the feeder with it.

However, if the bee is moving around too much the hummies kind of back away and go to a nearby bush and perch and wait until the feeder is clear to come back. Good reason to have more than one feeder up...even though sometimes each feeder is occupied by a bee.

There are lots of bees, bumblebees, wasps and yellow jackets around my house. So far they've not been a problem around my feeders. Sometimes though, the wasps get in my house and that's when I won't hesitate to use deadly force in the form of wasp killer.

BTW..a local man died last week from a yellow jacket sting. I figure any flying insect that can kill me deserves to die. Linda

you guys are great! love the humor! i do have yellow guards and as soon as im through here im going out to get rid of them. i usually just see wasps, no bees. some dark ones, maybe muddobbers? not sure....... any way.
the base does get a little sticky but i put fresh sugar water out every other day or so. thankyou for your help. i love this forum, deb

This is the type of thing that I'm getting:

I suppose the above pic could go into one of Frank's "strange visitor" threads! LOL

I was really surprised that the bee guards for my Perky Pet were yellow, a color which supposedly attracts the very things the guards are supposed to repel, so I am going to try not to use them from now on. Haven't actually used them at all the whole season except for a couple times in the past couple weeks when the wasps really became a nuisance. But at least today, my little one has been coming about once an hour after only sporadically showing up of late. I just changed the solution on the feeder and it is nice and cold. So hopefully she'll stay for a bit to get a long cold drink and the wasps will leave her alone. I've noticed that she's really been really sucking it down the past day or so, so I'll oblige! Haven't seen her on the B & B that's going to town just below the feeder on the other side of the rail, although it's hard to see those unless I'm right up on them.