Bees To Close To Your House?

Here's a note from Larry Caplan about bees that might interest people who are concerned about their children playing outside or close to insects. The picture was taken at Molly's house. They have a particular love for the mantis.

I have been getting "swarmed" with calls and e-mails from gardeners who are troubled by the large numbers of honeybees and yellow jackets that are feeding at their hummingbird feeders. One caller had a swarm the size of a softball clustered around her hummingbird feeder. This is a problem because a) it drives off the hummers, and b) the human safety issue of having that many bees and wasps close to the house.

Every summer, we normally get problems with bees and wasps being attracted to the syrup in a hummingbird feeder. Part of the problem is that it's an easy meal for the insects, and the bees are trying to desperately fill their hives with honey to survive the winter. Scavengers like yellow jackets are often attracted to sweets, including cans of soda pop.

This summer, we have a severe shortage of flowers available for honeybees. This is mostly due to the drought of the past couple of months; I know that my flower garden is more dust than flowers at the moment. A lack of blooms means less natural food for both the bees and the hummers.

I contacted Dr. Greg Hunt, Bee Specialist at Purdue's Department of Entomology, for some suggestions. He strongly urged people to NOT try to feed the bees (which is something I had recommended to one or two people). His reasoning is that bee hives contain a LARGE number of worker bees -- you are only seeing the smallest fraction of the hive at your hummer feeder. If you feed the bees, you will attract a larger number of workers (with stings!) to your home...which is exactly what you DON'T want to do!

However...if you live near a woods, and think the hive is out near there, you can try to put a feed pan out AWAY from your home. Get a reasonably shallow pan, preferably disposable, and fill it part way with syrup (basically, the same recipe you'd use for hummers). Place some leaves and sticks in the syrup, so that the bees don't drown trying to get to the sugar. You may need to refill this every few days because the heat will evaporate out the water quickly. The idea is to lure the bees and wasps away from your property.

Dr. Hunt also recommended changing your hummingbird feeder to one that is "bee-proof". These are feeders that have either bee guards over the opening, or are designed to place the syrup out of their reach. Hummingbirds have long tongues, and can easily reach syrup that is far out of reach of the bees. If the bees can't get to it, they'll eventually lose interest and move somewhere else where they can definitely get a meal.

The Hummingbird.net website ( http://www.hummingbirds.net/index.html ) has a whole page devoted to feeders, and one section in particular to outwitting bees: http://www.hummingbirds.net/feeders.html#bees . The author of the site recommends several brands of feeders that are supposedly bee-resistant. I have no personal knowledge of how effective these feeders are, or if there are other brands that do just as good a job.