Bee’s in the chicken feed – should I worry?

[Gromstomper]

Currently dealing with this in Southern Oregon. Feed is Kalmbach 16% and I've got a dozen bees controlling the feed barrels and upsetting my flock.

 

[Gerireski1]

Hi Folks,
For the last week or so theres been bees in the chicken feed (lots!). The chickens dont seem to like it and avoid the feeder. Once the sun starts to go down and the bees leave the chickens rush to the feeder to start eatingpoor things

. We live in southern NM so we have to worry about Africanized bees. They appear to be honey bees, but I have no idea where the hive is. Ive tried to watch where the bees are flying to, but there are too many trees in the area. So far the bees dont appear to be aggressive. This is our first year with chickens and we had no trouble all spring and summer. Should I just let the bees have their fill? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Angie

 

[TX Hen]

Yes, they are after the protein in the crumble.I have a few hives of honeybees and when pollen is in short supply, they will seek out my hens laying mash.Even if they are Africanized, the usaully only attack people when they get to close or disturb their hive.They aren't much of a threat when they are out foraging for pollen/necter.If you do locate the hive,be very careful.Honeybees do not like funny odors(body odor,perfume, passing gas) or loud noises.That goes for Africanzed or not.If you want to get rid of them, have an experienced beekeeper remove them. If you don't know what your doing, it can be very dangerous and deadly if you screw up.
Once their is a pollen flow going they will likely leave your hens feed.As suggested, you can put out some feed to distract the bees from your hens feeding area, but they may still go to the hens feeding area.They may also be interested in the hens water. Good luck, keep us posted...!

We’ve had this same issue for a couple years now, always early in the SE Texas “spring” (read: January). We’ve ordered our first hive, but I don’t think they’re due to arrive for several weeks. Hoping we’ll have plenty of wildflowers in bloom along with our flower & vegetable gardens.