I've also recently had that problem. In our case, the little yellow flower shaped pieces surrounding the nectar holes in our feeder had broken off allowing a larger opening for the bees. We taped over these openings, and the bees disappeared. I don't know if you are having a similar problem, but it can't hurt to check. Jim

I read a suggestion once that said to move your feeder for a few days. The insects get confused and give up looking for the feeder, and the hummers easily find its new location. This worked for me, hopefully it will work for you!! Good luck, Christy

I read something similar to what Christy suggested, but more elaborate. Although I've had some trouble with bees and wasps dominating feeders, I haven't tried this method, but thought I'd pass it along.

First off, you need at least 2 feeders. One you fill with a slightly weaker solution, say 5 parts of water to 1 part sugar. This will be for the hummers. In the second feeder, put a very strong solution of sugar and water--only 2 or 3 parts water to 1 part sugar. The hummingbirds will use the 5:1, and supposedly all of the bees will be drawn to the extra sugary solution, and will lose interest in the 5:1. You can then gradually move the extra sugary feeder away, a little bit at a time, and the bees will follow it. Eventually, it will be so far away that the bees will lose their habituation to the 5:1 feeder.

I don't know if this would really work, but the concept fascinates me. If the bees get bad again, I may try it, but it does seem like a lot of effort. Christy's suggestion is much simpler, but what if you don't want to move your hummer feeder because it's beside a favorite window? Why not move the bees away instead of the hummers?

I'd be interested to know if anyone ever tried this method and if it worked. My concern is that if you eventually took away the extra sugary feeder, wouldn't the bees just find their way back to the original hummer feeder? And who the heck wants to take the time to maintain a bees only feeder? On the other hand, maybe it would take them awhile to get back to the hummer feeder. If they stayed away for even a couple weeks, it would be a blessing, and an idea worth trying.

I havent had honeybees here , in fact Ive seen very few honeybees in Indy the last several yrs , wish we had them. Anyway my problem with bees has been yellow jackets and wasps. I too have read that they are attracted to the yellow feeder parts. I read that you paint over those parts with red nail polish and it might not hurt to try that , paint over those parts and even move the feeders for a few days then move them back to your favorite spot. Also I was in Lowes last night and saw this yellow jacket trap, which is nothing more that jar with a cone shaped apparatus inside it with an attractant inside plus they sell the replacement attractants. I also read how you can simulate this yourself. Take a jar or plastic milk carton and insert a funnel inside it and you may have to cut the milk carton to fit the funnel. Then you take some duct tape and seal around the top edge of your container and funnel. Now the mix mentioned as an attractant was --applesause and cat food. Im sure you can experiment with this for your own mix. Ever notice how the bees are attracted to dropped rotting fruit on the ground? Have a good day.

When I tried it, I moved my feeder 4 feet to the left. It worked, but I have no idea what kind of bees that they were. I do understand that it would move away from a favorite window, but it fixed my problem. You could even just removed the feeder for a day or two, the hummers will look for it, but the bees will give up quickly. I take my feeders down when I go out of town, sometimes a week or more, and when I return the hummers are right back. If you tried the two feeders, I guess you could keep moving it away, but they won't 'remember' there were two to begin with. Also, if you removed the second feeder finally, they won't 'remember' there was another one. I think this method was successful for me because I had a small invasion of bees, and maybe a specific kind. In CA there may be a larger number of bees, this method may not be as effective. Just my thoughts :) Christy

Like Hummersteve, I have had more trouble with yellow jackets and wasps than honeybees. My feeders don't have any yellow on them, but sometimes I get absent-minded and tend to boil my solutions longer than I should, producing overly sweet solutions. My understanding is that very sugary solutions are particularly attractive to bees, whereas hummers do OK even with 5:1 solutions.

That's interesting, Christy, that moving the feeder only 4 feet confused the bees. I know they're "just" insects, but somehow I thought they would be smarter than that. Removing the feeder for a couple days also seems like a good solution, although many of us might be afraid our hummers would move on to somewhere else-- but probably not so, judging by your experience. However, when you've worked hard to get hummers, you hate to take chances. It's encouraging to hear that yours came back. Taking the feeders down for a few days seems like a nice, simple, practical solution to keep in mind.

By the way, I was just reading up on honeybee lifespans, and it sounds like the workers may only live for 4-6 weeks, but some sources say longer. Anyway, even if they do have good memories, (and I think they might!) if you moved a second feeder away and kept it there for a month, all the original bees would probably die off, and their replacements would have no memory of the original location of the feeder. Maybe that's why gradually moving an extra sugary decoy feeder works. Or maybe bees really do have terrible memories.

I may not get the chance to experiment with any of this because bees just haven't been a huge problem for me, knock on wood. Late in the summer, I get mad at the wasps that chase the hummingbirds, but I also have admired the pluckiness of the hummingbirds in getting what they want. Unless it gets really bad, I figure I'll leave well enough alone.

A stronger solution of sugar to water will not deter the hummers. As a matter of fact they love it (BUT) it is very harmful to them, wrecking thier liver. Yes, the flowers have a more concentrated nectar, but it is not refined sugar.
The bees on the other hand, will go for any sugar solution, as will the yellow jackets. PLEASE don't kill the bees. They do a great deal of pollinating (remember our flower seeds and the farmers crops like cherries, raspberries, grain etc.
The yellow jackets kill and eat a lot of insects that are harmful to our plants.Hummers will always come back to your feeder and get their fair share of the sugar water.
By the way, do not put coloring in the sugar water. It too is harmful to them.

We have 3 hives of honey bees on the property and they have never come to feeders. I have plants and trees in the yard that keep them occupied.

Multiple feeders takes care of the wasp problems. If a wasp is on one feeder, hummers go to the others. We have lots of wasps. :-)

randy

So you think bees have memories? Lets see now where was that beehive? Bees exist on instinct, sight and smell, if any of those ingredients are there, they are fine. I noticed if wasps were on my feeders hummers were hesitant to feed. This one time though I noticed this one hummer going nose to nose with a wasp till the wasp left and everytime the wasp tried to come back the hummer ran him off, not in my house!! I had to laugh at that episode.

his is what i found hope it works

Here is a link that might be useful: bird watchres