$1 for BEST HUMMINGBIRD Feeder Bee Proof Guard Tips-1000 Flock Daily for DIY Recipe Nectar in Window
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- Опубликовано: 16 янв 2025
- Tips on buying the Right Feeder for you, How to stop the bees drinking your Hummingbird food. 1000's of Hummingbirds feed daily and the bees are swarming to the feeders trying to collect food for the Winter to come. Knowing how they feed and why, will help you keep them away during this time. 1/4 Cup white Sugar to 1 Cup Water.
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This is the feeder from the Dollar stores, here is an aff. link to check it out: rover.ebay.com...
This is the same for 2 feeders, just in case you do not have a dollar store around aff. link to check out: rover.ebay.com...
I haven't try nothing yet.
But with your videos I am learning and why to buy.
Awesome woman
Wonderful! Take Care 😊
Love hummers, I bought several of the $ store feeders and added them to my others. I have 6 total and they eat really well. Enjoy looking out my office window and watching them. I am going to try your solar fountain. Love watching you, I have learned so much. Thanks.
Humming birds are just the sweetest! Never had any interaction with them until we moved into our forever home (the last home a military couple plans to buy). The previous owners had two feeders hanging and left them for us. The feeders were covered in spider webs. We also had several wasp nests to deal with. I learned insects, bees and wasps detest mint, cinnamon and eucalyptus oils. I saturate cosmetic pads with the oils and set them in the top of the feeders to prevent any spiders from spinning webs to block the holes again. Haven’t seen bees or wasps either. Humming birds have a poor sense of smell, insects have a strong sense of smell so it’s the perfect tactic. Now the feeders are clear of everything but humming birds. You have so many! Your idea to use a mascara wand is brilliant! A pipe, or straw cleaner would work too. They sell tiny sets of brush cleaners on ALIEXPRESS for anyone interested in something designed for the job. Blessings! TFS
Thanks for talking about the bees today I have lots of bees now I know what to do to my feeders
Awesome idea for the bread ties to make birdie seats!! Love it!!❤️
I put them on my feeder by my window. Such a treat to watch them now sit & drink. Never thought about doing that until learning it here.
Love your videos and your energy! Keep doing you!!! :)
This was my first year attracting hummingbirds and let me tell you that I love it!! You inspired me !! I started with one small dollar tree feeder and by the middle of the summer it wasn't enough. I have a video on how I did it coming up.
Thank you!!
@Perrydise life! Wonderful, Oh, let us know here, on Robbie's channel, when you post it please.
Where flowers are missing on feeders, you can pick a bright yellow button and glue it in place over open hole. You know what holes in button will work, hot needle to make button hole bigger if needed. I always find the perfect button and it works! Button size up to you, 2 to 4 holes is fine but less 1 or 2 is better I find.
Buttons! Great idea
what about ants
I love that idea.
Yellow attracts the wasps here in PA so I took the yellow off. However, they keep coming to those small feeders I had bought last year at DT cause the holes are too large.
@@kaybengert642 place a cinnamon candy (small red candies) in your nectar mixture, the ants hate but unfortunately bees live it.
Greetings from Pensacola Fl.
This is my first year year feeding the Hummers and I’m learning everything from you. ❤️love your videos and all of the beautiful birds you feed. Thank you for sharing !
Thanks Robbie, took your advice and now I have happy bees and hummingbirds.
You have no idea how much I appreciate your information. I have several different hummingbird feeders and I only put out one or two at a time so now I understand that they like to come to the same one. Thank you so much for sharing and I will put out more feeders with purchase
I love the dollar tree feeders. They are awesome!!! I just use a $1 pkg of jumbo paper clips for perch. I unfold them into a triangle and bend the perch part up like a little step. Easy peasy.
This is the first year that I've had problems with bees. I've a few hummers that come to my yard but the bees are awful. I'm glad I watched this because I didn't consider swinging and splashing which right now the wind is rocking the feeders. Thank you
Another inspiring video - thanks so much, Robbie! Yes, supporting all the pollinators is very wise. (Gained mad respect for the bees, especially over this past gardening season.) You're a blessing, encouraging and inspiring so much good! :) God bless
Hallelu Yah same! I’ve had a lot of bad pests in my yard and butterfly garden especially this year. And having to learn all over again how to use different methods to get rid of them. It’s hard to get rid of bad pests when you have bees, butterflies, butterfly caterpillars, and their eggs on the hosts plants. Plus I’ve had more hummingbirds this year and they use my roses as perches. And the roses are almost eat up and gone.
@@AHannah79 Wow - a butterfly garden?! Sweet! Yep, my roses too, leaves are mostly gone; and I'm not sure how/why but I still get lots of flowers on them. We keep bird feeders and baths right by our garden beds, and find birds working in those beds all the time. They eat a bit of our tomatoes and stuff, but they really do eat up most of the pests. (They even ate the caterpillars I was hoping to keep alive to be b'flies.) The worst pests are the groundhogs - thinking of a "relocation" trap for them next year. (Bwahahaha!) Blessings!
I have wasps, called Yellow jackets. They aren't honeybees. They sting badly and can sting repeatedly. I'm afraid for the hummingbirds cause I'd read that the wasps will also sting the hummingbirds. Due to the fact that the hummingbirds are so small, their bodies can't handle the small amount of venom that the yellow jackets put into their bodies. Humans can withstand a sting but not if stung repeatedly.
@@madb9422 Not sure if this helps, but a beekeeper said that paper wasps will take out yellow jackets, and that if you have a yellow jacket problem, try to attract paper wasps. He even said that if you find an old paper wasp nest, hang it up in your yard. (Sorry, I don't know that I'd be brave enough to do this, but if I was worried about my hummers, maybe...)
@Hallelu Yah : Thx but no thx. Here's a copy & paste from just one site, Orkin. "How Serious Are Paper Wasps?
Paper wasps are considered beneficial because they assist in pollination by feeding on nectar, and they control pest insect populations by feeding them to their larvae. However, despite their ecological benefits, paper wasp nests should not be permitted to develop in or near the home. Stings from paper wasps are extremely painful and may produce serious reactions to people who are allergic to the venom."
I always enjoy your videos I have one of those cheap feeders from the dollar store so easy to clean I didn’t have trouble with bees but laughed at the butterflies that tried to get to the nectar my hummingbirds are gone now except maybe a straggler I will leave my feeder up until the end of October I will be ready for them next spring bought a feeder with a top on it for some shade.
I was dealing with yellowjackets chasing off the hummers so I searched the internet for something that would discourage them. I settled on ground thyme mixed into petroleum jelly (Vaseline), putting a dab between each feeding port. I'm pleased to say the yellowjackets are gone and the Vaseline mixture is still doing it's job over a week later!
BTW: Vaseline and cinnamon is a great ant deterrent.
Thanks for 2 great ideas!!
Please be careful with the vaseline, if the hummers get into a tiny amount it can stick to their feathers or beaks because they are very fragile creatures. They only weigh approximately 3 to 4 grams, the weight compared to a penny. 🙏🏽❤
Thank you Robbie for all your great tips! It's been a great year for Hummingbirds , Butterflies, and Bees in my Garden!
Wonderful! THANK YOU! Take care, Robbie
Thank you so much for making this video. I was specifically looking for confirmation of the bee guard being too tiny for the hummingbird’s beak. I bought a new beautiful hummingbird feeder when I had bees everywhere suddenly - that had never happened before, and now it’s been over a month and the hummingbirds are not drinking from that feeder and I suspected that the holes might be too tiny because they were at my other feeders. I used a toothpick to try to make the holes bigger and now I’m going to follow your suggestion and solder it to make them bigger and I’m sure that will help. Thank you so much for posting this video!
Robbie this is perfect for me. Just today posted video on my bee takeover. Glad to know I'm not the only one with this issue. Want happy bees and hummingbird. Your awesome. Thanks so much. Need to check out the dollar store.
My next door neighbor has bee hives & the bees like to come over to my yard so I put out a yellow frisbee filled with water & sm flat rocks where they land to take a drink - don’t mind them as they come pollinate all our fruit trees & veggies 😊 Have had bountiful fruits since the hives were put up😊
I’m sorry I’m just now getting to your video. Thanks for the info. I didn’t know about bee guards. I don’t have hummingbirds. I feed orioles. Well, at least I did until the wasps and ants crawled inside the feeder and died. Then I took it down. Thanks for the tip to put a pool of nectar someplace safe for them to feed. I want to offer a safe place for any creature that comes in my yard. A few weeks ago I hand fed nectar to a Monarch butterfly and after several minutes of feeding it rested and flew off again. At least I think it was a Monarch, but I didn’t think to take a picture which is odd for me because I’m always taking pictures. Thanks Robbie and Gary. I so enjoy your videos. Blessings
I use a shallow pie plate filled with marbles for the bees. Just fill with water/sugar water to about the middle or so of the marbles. The bees stand on the marbles and drink without falling in and drowning. :)
klcpca : Wonderful Info; Thank YOU. Karen Lee
I tried that with a white bowl with rocks put bee hive from the store and flowers and they are still going to my feeders I am so disgusted with them I want them gone. Could the bowl be to deep enough tho I have rocks in it.
@@darlenesewell4929 it may take a little while for them to find the new source.... good luck!
@@darlenesewell4929
We need bees Darlene. They are becoming endangered. Just keep trying to find a better way.
Remember bees pollinate your fruits & veggies!😊
Here’s something that worked really well for me to keep the bees off the hummingbird feeders; I took a plastic platter and put the core and skin from several pears on it. Then I poured a thin layer of nectar over it and placed it near my feeders. The bees were so happy, they had no reason to go to the feeders!
Perfect, I have done something like that, give them something they can get to easier and better, Thanks, Take Care 😊
Thx. Were they bees or wasps?
@@madb9422 I’d like to know
Too I have wasps -
I saw a wasp nest but too afraid to
Whack it down …
@@Heartfelt-zv7wh call a pest control company because they won't just go away.
Or, after dark you can spray it with wasp soray from 12 ft away!
@@Heartfelt-zv7wh I had wasps earlier in the summer. I bought was traps. The lure they go e you is useless but I used some hummingbird sugar water and some dick sauce and put them up. Took two weeks to get rid of them all. Bees are not attracted to the traps. Now I have bees. Don't want to kill them but want them gone. My son in law is severely allergic and we are not sure about my little grandson so I really need them gone. I will try the fruit and juice again not so far away and see it I can move them out.
Thank you so much for this video! I have such a bad bee problem with my hummingbird feeders and I have all these fancy feeders I bought I just went to the dollar store and bought a whole bunch of the cheap feeders that you suggested.
Good advise Ms. Robbie. Had to take two of my old ones down. Bees getting in and didn't come out and died. So only two of the cheaper ones up now and they work great. ❤
You are such a sweet and beautiful lady....Thank you so much for your tips...I will be looking for more!
I really like your idea of making a perch on feeders that don't come with them. I expanded on your idea by cutting a short narrow drink stirrer into 3 sections and putting about 7" of narrow rubber coated wire thru the stirrer. It worked out really well. Thanks for the tip!!
I have always been afraid of using plastic because of bacteria...I would like your take on plastic vs glass...as far as being the healthiest for the tiny birds....thank you for posting! I love the idea of using a mascara brush to clean....I had an awesome tiny brush to clean my little flowers and lost it, so the mascara brush is a great idea to try! Judy
Another great and cheap alternative to your mascara brush - is pipe cleaners. The dollar store sells packages of them.
They are used for art's and craft projects. Also use hot water to help sanitize from mold.
I use those tiny brushes from dollar store you use to clean between yr teeth 😊
So much good information on both the bees snd the birds. Do happy 😃 to see your site! Thank You 😊
I just run hot water thru my feeders and have no problem with mold . It’s fast and easy . Love my hummers!
Sounds great! Take care, Robbie
I let it soak in baking soda & hot water then scrub with tiny brush 😊
Good morning sweet lady! Maybe not "ready to use" sugar but, I bet you could grow "sugar cane" to the max though! I love it just for the challenge, and I do "Chew" it for all its sweet juice on occasion. Lol.
But the real reason for this comment, I ran across some cute little flower shaped buttons not to long ago. And immediately a light bulb came on, to use them as replacement "bee guards" on my hummingbird feeders. So now I have tried all kinds of buttons and they work as long as their thick enough and some I made sure they were by doubling up and using more than one on each hole. Just make sure at least one of the button holes is lined up with the feeder hole and glue it in place. Hot glue I have found works best as far as removing to clean and re-glue it back in place. Hope this helps someone. Hope y'all have a great week and God bless.
Would love to see a pic n how you made your bee guards from buttons!
I use a red solo cup placed on the ground below my feeder with water & sugar. The bees go to this cup, instead of my feeder, and there’s no death for them…minus those who drown themselves! It’s been working.
For cleaning I brought a baby bottle bush ..its fast and easy I have about 10 feeders. I wash them weekly and put about 2 inches of sugar water. Boiling 4 cups of water and 2 cups of sugar . My hummers are very hap ol y and see them daily. I live by Ohare airport
outside of Chicago.
I did the same when I was in San Diego, made the holes bigger .......I miss my little birds
Thanks for sharing that, take care, Robbie
@@RobbieAndGaryGardeningEasy How often do you wash and clean your feeders? I can't imagine how long that must take you with all that you have. I love your videos and have learned so much by watching you. It looks as if you live in a somewhat dry part of the country. Do you have any different techniques or suggestions for those of us that live in more humid areas (Houston, Tx). We have hummers every spring and early fall (mid to late September). Thank you so much for sharing your passion with us.
I started with one hummingbird this year, put up a 2nd feeder up which attached a few more hummingbirds. I became addicted to having them and loved watching your videos. Now I keep about 9 feeders up at a time. U know at one point I had 32 hummingbirds. It was wonderful! I still have the feeders up bc of migration and the birds are thankful. There is one fella who is territorial so over this winter I'm going to work on my placement. I get full dun in most my yard and own 4 cats. I want to find areas which Will best serve the birds while keeping them safe from my cats. Fortunately the cats have shown no interest in the hummingbirds, only in the songbirds which feed in my yard. However I don't believe in tempting then. I love all animals, but once my cats have "crossed over the Rainbow bridge", I will stick to creating an environment for the wild critters.
You've inspired me to turn my front yard into a food forest. I'm very excited bc I love eating fresh vegetables.
Thx so much. My larger feeders are bee/wasp proof. The smaller $1 ones have larger holes. Therefore the yellow-jackets climb into them.
There's no question, i like honey bees. I find them fascinating and i don't even like honey. There's also no question in my mind that they're not native to the America's. They were introduced by us and are not necessary for pollination of the endemic flora. They are competing for food with the local, native pollinators, in this case the Humming Birds. Yet they are here and it's good to have them around for pollination of the introduced plants we also appreciate. Thank you for helping all your pollinators to coexist!
Love you Robbie so informative video thanks a bunch and take care ♥️😊👍
I had a bee problem or maybe they were yellow jackets, I’m not sure, but I had a large feeder I wasn’t using because I don’t get a lot of hummers. I took off the cover part that has the holes for feeding and left the base. I put pea gravel in the base and just water in the top. The bees went there without sugar.. I think the bees were just thirsty. There were plenty of flowers for the bees but they get thirsty.
I like bee's am fine with them they cool😎
It's the bossy Hornets and Yellow Jackets that are my problem. Keeps the hummers away 🙁
I dont have honey bees I have yellow jackets sweat bees and wasps! The little one crawl inside the tiny hole of the feeder. I have to be careful when I wash them they are still alive inside the feeder!!!!
Thanks for your helpful tips.
I Am Only Getting Yellow Jackets. I Prefer Glass Feeders Due To The Temperature Differences (I'm In NY). They Expand During The Day And Contract At Night, Squeezing The "Nectar" Out. Thus, Attracting The Yellow Jackets. To Combat The Yellow Jackets I Use The 2l Bottle Hack Using A 1To 3 Mixture Away From The Rest Of The Feeders.
Thanks for your info and time!
03:35 Question @RobbieAndGaryGardeningEasy : Could you use the old, retired feeder, take the bee guard yellow plugs off of it, fill it w/nectar and hand to 'distract/attract' the bees to it? would that work? Karen Lee
Karen, what I found is just put a container (bowl, saucer, even a milk jug turned on it's side with sugar water in it) on a table, (I am using the top of an old dog crate) about 10' away from the hummer's feeder. If you use a milk jug, fill it 1/3 to 1/2 full of sugar water. And the reason you need to put it on it's side is so they can drink the sugar water without falling into it. And they will come and go all day and not bother the hummers. I had a terrible time with bees, yellow jackets & huge agressive hornets that would double team the hummers, chasing them away from the feeder. Aggressive at me too. And it has worked great. I didn't want to hurt any pollinators but I wasn't going to let them run off my hummers. Turned out to be a win/win solution.
@@carolynplante4513 HI there! Many thanks for the kind response and information. I shall implement your tips. Happy Humming to you 👍.
Thank you Robbie for this information on the bees. You wont believe how i was searching for help today. And at the end of the day , here is your video on bees . What a coinsidence or what shall i call it. Thank's so much Robbie.
I am from westerncape in South Africa. Protea Hights.
I wish the Honey Bees were our only problem. As I've commented before, it's the Yellow Jackets and Hornets that are proliferate here in Washington State. All summer long and especially into Fall, they swarm the feeders, even the fancy ones with the bee-gaurd cages around the feeding holes, where they cannot even access the nectar. I don't know what to do, I just can't seem to find a solution. They get so bad, that the Humming Birds are driven away from the feeders, as the Wasps will attack & sting them. I've even hung Wasp traps all around the property, to no avail. They are so vicious, that I can't even get the feeders off to clean and refill them without getting stung. Poor little Hummer's, I feel so badly for them as they are so hungry, especially this time of year as there are no flowers to speak of.
Are the Wasps this bad in S. California? I've been there countless times, but never dealt with Humming Birds while there.
Sincerely, Laurie 🐦+🐝=😣
Hi Laurie,I have the same problem here in Ontario with yellow jackets!..Did you ever get to solve this?..I even put some sugar water in a pop can,as they will go in and die cause they can't figure out how to get back out I guess.Hope you figured a way,let me know or maybe Robbie :)
I had paper wasps. A queen (I think that’s the term) started building a nest on my porch, close to my hummingbird feeders. These wasps are really non-aggressive and I love having them around. They are beneficial in many ways. I tried taking down the nests as they built. I sprayed them with water. I found the queen and moved her. Finally I saw something about wasps moving away from peppermint oil. I put some on cotton balls and stuck them around the porch. They left so quickly they forgot to forward their mail.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to work with bees. I’m about to put that netting material people use to make petticoats.
Oh, I also read Yellowjackets are attracted to protein, if that helps at all.
@@yoursoulfulconnections Hi Debbie, I'm afraid the yellow jackets are impervious. I've even gotten yellowjacket traps, they work well, but don't get them all unfortunately. 🐝🐝🐝
As far as wasps, I’m California, born and raised. Growing up north of San Diego, Mom had bird feeders for the different eaters and always a hummingbird feeder. I don’t remember having any insects bother the hummers. But we lived in an area with citrus and avocado groves. Maybe there was more food for hummers, bees, wasps then.
I’ve got yellow jackets here in Indiana. One solution which helps is planting flowers that attract hummingbirds.
Thank you! Love your videos!!
You are so welcome! Thank you!
Thank you for the info, I had the bee problem last year with the Baltimore Orioles feeders so, I'm going to get more feeders.
The bees, hornets, and wasps are a huge problem in the fall at my hummingbird feeders. Years ago, I read that using a paint brush, you can paint mint extract around the ports to deter bees. Don’t use mint oil, or any oil, around feeders, either hummingbird or other bird feeders. There’s a chance birds could get oil on their feathers and it could affect their flying ability. Some brands of hummingbird feeders have replacement flowers and bee guard cages that you can purchase to replace ones that are missing or broken.
I had a beautiful glass hummingbird feeder. I loved it but since the feeding holes were so big, the bees did too. One day there were probably 50 bees on it! I took it down and put a cheap, plastic feeder up. The next day, all the bees were back crawling all over the feeders. The next day, the bees were back but less of them. The third day, no bees. I am going to try to make the pretty feeder’s holes smaller so I can use it without attracting (and drowning!) the bees!
I got myself two of those feeders. They are a hit with the birds! I used some of that padded wire used for tying up plants to stakes for perches, and the birds like it. Dollar Tree sells them as a case of 24 online, but they are not in stock right now, probably for seasonal reasons. It's like trying to buy a fan at Walmart during our November heat waves. They only keep stock for the Winter as if we are in the mid-west.
I fixed my feeders that don't have bee proof blooms so I bought some smallest tubing and hot glue gun cut off 1/4 " long tubing put hot glue on the going over the hole on the feeder and it is working great
Thank you so much for showing me this video I'm definitely don't do this for next summer
Love your information. Thank you.
You are so welcome!
Try this. Take qtip of Vaseline and put it on each flower on the feeder. Birds will ignore it and feed. Bees get stuck and don't like it. Did this last fall and it worked in AZ.
Thanks for your tips ...I'll put the sit twists on .
I have a deep plate I put sugar-water with honey be healthy added to it in a covered area of my yard. Now you need to add a platform for the bees to land on or they will drown, and yes I was sick to my stomach when I discovered what I had done wrong. Lesson learned the hard way. I bought a white plastic mash in the art department at Walmart it was only a couple of dollars and I cut it to fit over the plate or whatever you use and just place it on top. Now I make my own sugar-water and yes it is thinker then what you buy for the hummingbirds. Also in the past, I added some pine cones. Just something for them to land on eat and fly home.
good idea with the plastic mesh!
Thanks for sharing the wisdom! Where do you buy honey be healthy? (Or can you make it yourself?)
Thank you very much...your video was very informative and helpful. Have a great day.
This year I have had tons of Yellow Jackets! Since changing my feeders now the Hummingbirds are gone!
Thanks so much Robbie for the video...very helpful! ✌❤😀🙏🐾
Thank you. Your Video was very Informative.
Glad it was helpful! Take care, Robbie
Thank you dear for sending this to me❤❤
The naughty little bees 🐝, I get some here too. 😊
I only have one hummer feeder, but it's not the bees that love it. I wouldn't mind bees so much, but there always wasps at it! Mine has built in bee guards and they still come around
I didn’t have problem with bees but the wasps were going nuts and driving the few hummingbirds away. The wasps also made it hard to eat outside so I set up a wasp trap a few feet from the hummingbird feeder. Still got some wasps bothering them but it worked, sort of.
Small brown paper bag stuffed with crumpled plastic grocery bags seal at top and hang around your yard, deck. Keeps all hornets, wasps away. They are territorial and stay away.
Great advice, thanks so much ❤
Great tips. Thank you so much.
My hummers prefer my First Nature feeder. I have the exact glass feeder you showed at around 4:29 in your vid, that my hummers just don't like as much. Maybe I should add perches with the bread ties:). Good idea. Glad to see you have them so I wondering if you have found something that will work?. I haven't found anything online that states they fit the First Nature feeder. I wish I had as many hummers as you! LOL. But that would keep you busy preparing so much sugar water. I can alway tell when something is up with a pest at the feeder because I know the sound of my hummers complaining:). LOL.
The thing is, we need our bees too. We all know there's an overall reduction of bees in the US. They say up to 1/3 of the bee population.
When I open my feeder to clean them which is very often, if there's a bee trapped in there. I get some clear water, take the bee outside and rinse it off and 99% of the time, it dries off quickly and is able to fly away without the sticky sugar water on it's wings. Thanks for all the ideas.
The hummers really do like a perch and if you can add one, it can be helpful to them. You are right on the bees, it is just trying to keep everyone happy, and we really want the bees to pollinate the flowers, but if you want to feed the bees that is fine, a bowl of sugar water can work for them, as we do have bowls here with water for the bees, take care, Robbie
Do they eat in the winter
Bees usually do not bother feeders in the winter, at least not here, Take care, Robbie
Can you put a feeder on a flat service? We can't put holes in our patios. Also want to get a little water pump for them.
Put in a flower pots if you have flower pots with a rod I have pots that fit on a porch rail
We maintain 30 feeders. After trying most brands, we now only use First Nature feeders. They last for years, clean easiest and birds are happy.
Dealing with the bees they where getting to aggressive with I washed all my feeders out .I'm sad because ,to see my hummingbird a each day I have to say brings me so joy. Yes the bees found gold mine .I have those feeders and it still happened
The bees are all over me when I go out. Guess I smell sweet. I came in to shower and found one in the tub. They follow me all around the yard. I started putting a bowl or special feeders away from others. So I got out my special garden hat to keep them off me.
You covered all my questions!❤️🙋🌱🐝🐦
Robbie, thank you so much for all your information and innovation. And you make it so much fun! Can you tell me where I should look for the solar birdbath kit. I have a large plant saucer that I keep full of water for the birds. And they do use it to drink and to bathe. But have never seen a hummer there. So I would like to give them a fountain to play in.
Thank you! Very helpful video!
Cleaning the bee guard .... use pipe cleaners. Don't have many problems with honey bees, but YELLOW JACKETS are very aggressive towards hummingbirds and chase them away. I hang yellow jacket/wasp traps at either end of the house, away from the feeders. Last year, between the 2 traps, I killed off hundreds of these pests ... keeping them away from the little hummers.
00:00 -00:10 "Hi Everybody, it's Robbie...and I'm coming from my office, which is in the corner of my kitchen..." LOL! My 'office' is my bed!!!! In my working days, I always said that 'When I am CEO of a Giant Company; I am Not going to have a big overpowering office dest; I am going to have a King Sized Bed and do all my work from it. No chairs for underlings or visitors; they will have to take off their shoes and sit on the edge of the bed...!"
[It's nice having delusions to brighten up & escape the realities of this world!] Karen Lee
4:40 I have that one
I found a you tube video from a man that had many hummingbird feeders and he said he puts tea tree oil on a cotton swap and gently wipes the plastic flowers with. He says the bees and wasps hate the smell but it doesn't affect the hummingbirds. I tried it and it seemed to keep them away but then you have to reapply it after it rains.
I didn't get rid of bees from house an bird feeders! I put another bee food source out away from bird feeders using apple sauce jar. Bees creatures needing food an water too, so I just separate birds & bees. (Bees really like a little sugar mixed in apple sauce formented couple days! Haha, now birds an bees love me! An it's easy to just open jar lid an place away from birds!
That was great. Thanks so much.
You're very welcome! Thanks, Robbie
I'm having more wasps than honey bees this year. I do have a plate with a feeder in the middle of it with water in the plate. It's a feeder just like the one you showed. The wasps and hummers neither one go to it. I also have 2 just straight tube feeders hanging from a 6-port disk feeder on each side to balance the disk feeder, and the wasps are constantly flying around trying to get food out of them. They seem to be the favorites, but I find myself continuously pouring water over them in case of leakage! It seems to work fairly well, some days it seems more than others! The Dollar Store cheapies seem to be the favorites for both! The disk feeders are popular also with the hummers. But I still have a problem also with a dominant male, and have fewer this year it seems. I've got at least 5-7 feeders, but not many hummers this year (very disappointed)!
The weather is causing some different critter behaviors this year, but so far only bees bother some of the feeders no wasps here on the feeders. When the bees become an issue, I swap out the feeders for total bee proof ones from Walmart, and it works. Take care
@@RobbieAndGaryGardeningEasy Thank you Robbie!
I took care of my yellow jacket problem earlier in the summer, now I have bees. I don't want to kill the bees but they are pretty aggressive. I have a feeder with really tiny slits that the bees keep surrounding. I just can't see how they get anything and it is a favorite for the hummers so I don't want to take them down. I have removed several that have oval openings that are much to big. Just a note, Perky Pets sells bee guards with attached perches that fit the dollar store feeders. I was getting yellow jackets on .mine until I changed out the bee guards to the perkie pet one snd that solved the problem. Not all bee guards are created equal, at least not in my NY garden. I also purchased several new ones that have an oval opening that is much to big. Don't stop yellow jackets from getting in or bees from drinking. The bee guards don't fit it so they are basically useless to me... My hummingbird season is just about over. There are just a few hardy souls left and I'm sure they will be gone any day. Just trying to get my game plan for next spring, not wasting my time on feeders that don't work.
Robbie, if the feeder flower (bee guard) is missing find a yellow button of your choice, glue it in place, IT WORKS GREAT!!
Thanks for the tip! That will work great! Thanks, Robbie
In all the years of feeding the hummers with about five station, never had such bee and yellow jackets problem . We are in extreme drought and I figured the nectar flowers have stopped producing. I had to put pie plates out, but more come! Ugh! My hummingbird finally left to head south.
Thinks I am going to try this I have lots of bee 🐝
Should I put rain guards on my feeders. Beaverton oregon
Thanks the bees are important to I would just like them to eat away from the humming bird feeders. Thank you for the suggestions
Thank you great information which I needed
What to you put in your hector that you make for the humming birds
I cup white sugar to 4 cups water always the same recipe for everyone. It is the closest to the nectar in the flower 🌼
Heat water put i cup sugar in container. I pour 2 cups hot water to melt the sugar and then 2 cups cold ready to serve
At 4:50, I have that feeder and the wasps and yellow jackets are always there.
How do you feel about just using flowers to feed them? I have physical issues with getting out there for nectar, cleaning ect.
Do you think they would come visit if I just have their favorite plants?
I grow lots of native plants along with some non-native annuals (eg. old fashioned flowering tobacco) that hummingbirds know & love.
So whether feeders are available or not, they feed from my flowers.
You can plant flowers all over and they should come, add a water fountain and more should come. Take care, Robbie
Hi Robbie. I have a bully scarring other hummingbirds. I added 2 other feeders. He swoops from trees and scares them away. I'm besides myself. What can you suggest for me if you can? I put my table with my umbrella near the tree he comes from. That isn't working. Help me. Thanks.
Check this video out on these bully hummingbirds, see if this will work for you or give you ideas, Take care, ruclips.net/video/w78BvVepehY/видео.html
My passion is attracting hummingbirds! I live close to you. You would make it one of the best days of life, if I could see your yard. I can give you any identification you need. Please consider.🙂🙂 Thank you so much
Right now with all going on, we have not gone anywhere, or have had anyone over, take care, Robbie
When do the humming fly to where they go for winter, i am in texas
We are 110 to 119 last few days here in Moreno Valley CA.
We have been hot too, take care, Robbie
I don't have a bee issue; only gnats. Hundreds of gnats get into the hole and fill up the jar. Feeder bought from Walmart. I think that the holes might be to large.
I have tiny gnats here, and have never had that issue? Wash the feeder and when putting it out, turn it over carefully to now spill any on the outside, and see if that works to not attract them, BUT just to let you know, HUMMINGBIRDS love to eat gnats. Take Care 😊
How about set up a separate feeder for just the bees
Yes, we do that too, it sometimes works. Thanks
I love your videos and I love hummingbirds.
I have case of small glass jars with screw on plastic lids. The jars are 2 inches tall. Is that too tall to use as hummingbird feeders?
Bees are attracted to the color yellow too... why the heck to the manufacturers make the bee guards yellow???