Not usually a pest, but does anyone else have this problem?

[GooseMom111]

Over the past month and a half I have had a problem with honey bees mobbing my feeders. I feed crumbles and they're walking on it and hovering in such numbers that I can hear them from a distance. The birds don't seem to mind and will eat if hungry. The bees aren't aggressive but I'm curious if anyone knows what this behavior is about. Thanks

 

[Al Gerhart]

Just some hungry bees. Watch your feed consumption, a quarter pound per hen per day, ignore roosters unless you have a lot of them. Figure out what the bees are eating per day or week, can't imagine if it is too much but what do I know.... if it is, treadle feeders can stop a bee a lot easier than a rat. If it made economic sense and I'd lean toward feeding the local bees unless it was really costing a lot in lost feed.

 

[GooseMom111]

Just some hungry bees. Watch your feed consumption, a quarter pound per hen per day, ignore roosters unless you have a lot of them. Figure out what the bees are eating per day or week, can't imagine if it is too much but what do I know.... if it is, treadle feeders can stop a bee a lot easier than a rat. If it made economic sense and I'd lean toward feeding the local bees unless it was really costing a lot in lost feed.

Thanks for the reply. I had no ideas bees would be interested in chicken feed, but it reminds me of how they get covered with pollen. They're getting covered enough to have trouble flying. I have tried offering food and water to wild bees but I never saw any, guess I should have just put out crumbles, lol

 

[WingItRanch]

This happened to me for the first time this year! I did some research and it turns out bees love chicken food. The bees are seeking out protein before winter hits. They're specifically looking for the dust leftover in chicken feed. I read that if you take a container of dust and place it higher than your feeder, they'll focus on that dish.

My chickens didn't seem to mind so I left them alone. I was actually excited to see honey bees because they help pollinate my vegetable garden in the spring.

 

[ParanoidAndroid]

This happened to me last Summer, they seemed less interested in Pellets so I switched to those.
I assumed they were interested in the Ground Marigold Petals in it.