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

[MarlaMac]

I know I am a little late responding to this post. We have this problem every fall and early spring - when the natural bee food is either dying off or not yet blooming. Swarms of bees hitting the feeders. My chickens will not eat when the bees are there.

Put water in their feed. Make it into a mash and the bees will leave it alone. They are after the dust at the bottom of the tray.

The first time you do it you might waste some feed, but you will get better at knowing how much feed you can wet and not waste any. I almost have it down to a science now. I throw very little away each night, if any.

Good luck.

 

[GooseMom111]

I know I am a little late responding to this post. We have this problem every fall and early spring - when the natural bee food is either dying off or not yet blooming. Swarms of bees hitting the feeders. My chickens will not eat when the bees are there.

Put water in their feed. Make it into a mash and the bees will leave it alone. They are after the dust at the bottom of the tray.

The first time you do it you might waste some feed, but you will get better at knowing how much feed you can wet and not waste any. I almost have it down to a science now. I throw very little away each night, if any.

Good luck.

Thank you, that's quite helpful!

 

[ABQ chicken keeper]

Why have someone collect them? Every plant around you will benefit for having bees around. My neighbor raises bees to sell honey and has a bunch of hive. They sometimes collect in numbers around my water tanks to drink if conditions are dry outside. Annoying but I'm trying to practice tolerance with nature. Experiment with different kitchen spices to get the bees out of your feed. I think cinnamon cloves and pepper will bother the bees but not your chickens.

PB,
Free roaming domesticated bees can out compete wild bees due to sheer numbers. Wild bees are what we as gardeners depend on to pollinate our fruit trees and berry plants.

 

[GooseMom111]

It must be a seasonal thing because the bees left, the feeders aren't attracting them anymore. Thanks for all the great responses

 

[MarlaMac]

It must be a seasonal thing because the bees left, the feeders aren't attracting them anymore. Thanks for all the great responses

Yep. Sometimes the hives are migrating (occurs when the hives split off with new queen). Or when the flora/fauna start to bloom they will prefer this natural food over the chicken feed. My bees visit less frequently now, but we are getting a cold snap which might bring them back for a day or two.

 

[GooseMom111]

Yep. Sometimes the hives are migrating (occurs when the hives split off with new queen). Or when the flora/fauna start to bloom they will prefer this natural food over the chicken feed. My bees visit less frequently now, but we are getting a cold snap which might bring them back for a day or two.

That makes sense...although when I was actually offering food and water I never saw any bees, lol

 

[MarlaMac]

That makes sense...although when I was actually offering food and water I never saw any bees, lol

Go figure...nature is a weird beast.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I had that experience last year or the previous year. I had a big jar of sugared honey so I set that out on its side and let the bees have at it. They loved it! I figured the warm weather got them up early out of hibernation but nothing was blooming so they needed to be fed. Took them a while but they cleaned it up and then disappeared.

 

[Project Blue]

PB,
Free roaming domesticated bees can out compete wild bees due to sheer numbers. Wild bees are what we as gardeners depend on to pollinate our fruit trees and berry plants.

"honey bees (Apis mellifera) are not native to the Americas. They were imported from Europe by settlers in the early 17th century (around the 1620s) for honey and wax production. While honey bees existed in the Americas millions of years ago, they died out long before European contact".

What bees and fruit are you talking about??? Peaches and apples for example and honey bees came from European settlers. Most gardeners are not growing native food plants. The cat is out of the bag so to speak when it comes to the European invasion. Bumble bees may not compete as well as honey bees and pollinate some berries, but both are struggling. Honey bees were way more numerous when I was a kid, and all the lawn/farm chemicals it best to leave all pollinators alone. It looks like a close association with mankind is the best ticket to the future. There's really no going back in nature only forward. The big problem arises when some kind of animal is locally common. That gives the illusion they are common all over, not so. I have several farm properties and no wild honey bee hives and never have and I'm 65. I'm hoping my neighbor's bees decide set up house keeping on my farm. Incidentally, I have bumble bees and always have had them in small numbers, in both farm and suburban properties.