Hornet Repellent for Hummingbird Feeder

It’s August – bee season. Finally found a good way to keep bald-faced hornets & yellow jackets off of the sugar water feeders. Apply Tea Tree Oil ( any drug store ) around the opening and they won’t land. Doesn’t mean they won’t keep trying for a few days, but it does let the hummers get in for a drink and the oil doesn’t seem to bother them at all. I use a q-tip to dab the oil around the opening taking care not to touch anything the hummingbirds would.

Have to reapply fairly often, but small price to pay to keep bees from taking over the feeder.

Pete

Huh, good tip. They haven’t been too bad on ours yet, but I will keep that in mind.

That is a good tip! They don’t bother my Hummer feeders but the Bald faced hornets are all over my jelly in my oriole feeders.. So much so I pulled the little jars and have left it empty for a week. Hoping the suckers will just go away. I’ve looked all around the property to find the nest to no avail..

I’m getting a few but the Hummers seem to work around them for now. The bees are more attracted to yellow colors so if you have a feeder that has a lot of yellow to it maybe get a different feeder next year. Also it’s going to be time to change the ratio in your feed pretty soon I have gone closer to 3 to 1 last feeder fill. Seems I have attracted more since.

We had a huge thunderstorm roll through about a month ago that lasted most of the morning. Loud thunder, lots of lightning and heavy rain driven by gusts of high winds. The whole time of the storm the Hummingbirds were just swarming the feeders! I bet I had over 20 at a time. I was amazed they could hold their position hovering around the feeders waiting for a open spot during those high winds and heavy rains. Anyone else ever see such a thing? Amazing creatures! I haven’t had this much fun since my last ant farm!!