On Jul 29, 2005, at 10:36 AM, allen dick wrote
This came in from a lady in Skiatook, North of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Any
suggestions?
> Are you talking about a hummingbird feeder? If so, a good
> hummingbird feeder will have bee guards that keep bees away.
>
> allen
I have had honeybees, humming bird feeders, and humming birds in my
back yard for years here in Alabama, and have only on a couple of
very rare occasions seen a single bee around a feeder. The problem
here is YELLOW JACKETS at the feeders. At this moment yellow jackets
are chasing humming birds and vice versa, off and on every day. Very
rarely a red wasp comes to the feeder, and the hummers will not
contest the wasp, which is larger and more nervous than the yellow
jacket; unless you can find the yellow jacket's nest, pour in a few
ounces of gasoline and plug it with a rock after dark, and quickly;
TAKE CARE, one can certainly get stung doing this!
The only other thing have done is kill the offender off the feeder
with a fly swatter. My feeders are just a foot outside a pair of
windows.
My personal belief is that the hummingbirds will be unharmed by none
of the above; they nest and raise their young right in my yard -
I have two of their nests on a bookshelf. Another small story:
four or five years ago a neighbor, two blocks away, called to
complain that my honey bees were all over her H. bird feeders on her
patio. I went up immediately with a couple of honeybees in a jar.
Obviously, even to her, her "bees" were nothing like my "bees";
i.e., she also had yellow jackets. From now until the first freeze,
here in Alabama, there are going to be lots of yellow jackets.
Oklahoma? I can't say!
Robert Barnett
Birmingham, AL
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-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info ---
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