Keep Bees Away From Your Feeder With These Hummingbird Nectar Tips

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Bees are effective pollinators and insects gardeners love to see. Although they may be a welcome sight in your garden plot, they are much less so around your hummingbird feeder. However, given that both hummingbirds and bees are fond of nectar, the very substance with which you fill your feeders to draw in hummers will inevitably attract bees. While there are a number of ways to keep bees away from hummingbird feeders, one possible solution is to make adjustments to the nectar itself.

Whether you are DIYing a homemade hummingbird nectar or buying a premixed solution such as Pennington's Electronectar, it is the sweetness of the liquid formula that attracts both hummingbirds and bees. However, bees tend to have more of a sweet tooth than hummingbirds. So, you can often make your hummingbird feeder less attractive to bees simply by lowering the sweetness of the nectar in your feeder.

Bees like a water-to-sugar ratio in the neighborhood of 3 to 1 best and will settle for 4 to 1. Hummingbirds will continue to flock to your feeder even if the solution is as diluted as 5 to 1, which is typically not sweet enough to interest bees. To dilute your nectar, simply add more water when you are mixing your next batch or add some water to your store-bought premix.

While reducing the amount of sugar and sweetness in your nectar may help keep bees away, there are some other steps to take in order to ensure they aren't buzzing around your feeder. For one, be sure to keep your hummingbird feeder clean and change the nectar every few days. Nectar leaking out and dripping all over and around your feeder will only serve to attract more bees. Additionally, over the course of hot days, nectar tends to not only risk spoilage, but it also evaporates. The process of evaporation will effectively increase the sugar-to-water ratio, nullifying your attempts at dilution. As a bonus, a clean feeder will not only help keep bees away, it will actually attract more hummingbirds.

Where you place your hummingbird feeder can also make a difference — for instance, hanging your feeder in a shaded area can help reduce evaporation. It is also a good idea to place feeders a good distance away from flowers that attract bees. If the feeder is too close to the flowers, it makes it easier for the bees to move between the two. Placed a good distance away, odds are the bees will remain satisfied with the flowers and won't bother to investigate the feeder. 

Additionally, using a feeder with a built-in bee guard can help dissuade bees, as can utilizing natural oils around your feeder. For example, peppermint oil can protect feeders from pests such as bees and ants when sprayed on the feeder pole and surrounding structures. You can also place a separate feeder filled with super sweet nectar in a different area of your yard in order to attract bees away from the feeder that is intended for hummingbirds.