If you don’t want ants use freshwater fishing string to hang the feeders up with the ants can’t climb on them they fall off. Found the hint in a Birds and Blooms Magazine years ago and never had a problem again.
Yeah, but your logic is a D at best. The hanging part does nothing for the flying pests. Gotta look at the whole picture to be logical. Nothing wrong with fishing line and it’s a good but limited suggestion. Thanks.
Did it .Works great to keep the bees & wasp away. But, now my humming birds are having to get used to the tea tree oil smell. But, their coming along. Thanks so much !
I've heard that cucumbers will deter the bees. But I know for a fact that hummingbirds are territorial and will fight off other hummingbirds to keep their sugar supply to themselves. Therefore, putting hummingbird feeders close will make one or two hummingbirds think the feeders are only theirs. You have to spread the feeders around different areas.
That’s so true when you have just a few hummers but when you have a few hundred like we do, we’ve found you can place the feeders right next to each other and it doesn’t matter. In the spring when the males arrive there are disputes and an occasional male will dominate a few feeders so we spread them apart about 20 feet, but as the arrival numbers grow we can put them closer because the shear masses overwhelm the males domination. The most dominate of the hummingbirds (male & female) are the RUFOUS (Selasphorus rufus). The arrive late and try to take everything over. The males harass the masses for about 3 days and then give up trying to dominate the line of feeders. Not to say there is total peace at the feeding stations, but there are so many Rufous males, they are kept busy fighting between themselves and the rest of the hummers all get their feed. Early mornings first feeding and last night last feedings are always very peaceful while mid day has domination antics. It’s interesting to note that as the fledglings arrive at the feeders, none of the male of any species harass them. The babies get a free pass at any feeder.
Don't we all love the Occasional Expert... You know - those who have limited experience. I find it interesting that OEs know and state facts but never have knowledge of all the facts available. How do we ever survive without them?! Especially those that cannot see with their own eyes. Great advice CRR!
I almost gave up on feeding the hummers because of the territorial fighting, then I heard an idea and it works great. I originally had about 6-7 hummers trying to feed at the two feeders I had and one would always be vicious and try keep the others away. All my feeders are covered by my extended patio roof or under semi permanent umbrellas. I added 6 more feeders within the same area and the bullys have given up trying to keep the now 30+ hummers fought off. Only downside is that I now have to replenish the nectar every 1-1/2 to 2 days but it's really nice to constantly have them outside the windows.
@@rogerbivins9144 Oh, I’ve often seen videos of numerous feeders lined up with hummers feeding and no fighting and wondered how it happened. Did u see the study where a certain species of female hummers are mimicking the males in coloring to reduce the harassment by males. Ha.
Thankyou so much. My feeders were invaded with bees today. I wiped them w tea tree and in 10 minutes they were gone just in time for the evening rush hour
@@CaptainWingnut yes im between Austin and SanAntonio. I put my feeders out on st patricks day and oh boy, they were waiting for me., which surprised me with the snow we had just 3 weeks earlier. Im in an apartment with 7 feeders, i know i have at least 5 pairs, probably more, that is just how many i can catch eating at one time. I feel bad about the bees because i really care about them too, just not like yesterday when they were harrassing the hummers. I saw a sugar water feeder specifically for bees, cant remember if on tic toc or my birds and blooms magazine. Ill be checking that out today. Its warming up this morning and i see them out there still scaring off hummers by hovering around the feeders trying to figure out how to get to them today.
@@raeboyd5596 Usually the bees want 1 to 1 sugar water but if times are tough, I’ve seen them go for 2 to 1. If it’s hot and you can make your nectar for the hummers 3 to 1 or 4 to 1 it may be too diluted for the bees and they’ll forget it... may is the “buzz” word here as bees need a lot of water as well and you never know WHAT they’ll tolerate... Hornets and Wasps on the other hand don’t mind the extra water... that’s why the tea tree oil comes in so handy, they ALL hate it. On the other hand, if someone else close by has more concentrated nectar, you’ll lose your hummers to their feeders... Good luck and thanks for great comments.
@@CaptainWingnut i gave up on my main 3 feeders, the expensive mason jar kind, because i noticed the bees didnt even bother w the dollar tree feeders. Theyd try the feeder hole and back out, unable to reach any sugar water and those feeders do not leak where the flowers punched in and the bottom seals, they didn't even circle the joint trying to find a leak. But they were braving the tea tree oil on the jar feeders, So i took down the 3 and went and got 10 more dollar tree feeders, a total of 13 now, and ive got at least 1 more pair of hummers and absolutely no bees finally! And i went back to 3 to 1 as i had always done till i started watching robbie in SoCal and she says 4 to 1. But my porch is so busy i want to keep them even if someone else puts feeders out. I have a tree right in front of my unit that they go sit in between trips to the feeders so i think they would stay. I have feedera between hanging flower pots , some high and some low, along with some deep bell flowers i planted for them. If i were a bird i would think it a paradise. When it gets hot ill set up the water bath for them, but for now its been cool, windy, rainy.
They’re beautiful and fun, but having so many means a lot of noise. Imagine all of those wings beating,,, some say it sounds like a beehive on steroids. I think it sounds like being in a room with 10 fans on high. And don’t get me started on the cost of sugar! We go through 20-25 (25lb) bags of sugar a year feeding them. I wasn’t a problem until covid when everyone started hoarding sugar and its supply became low. We were driving over 100 miles last year just to buy a bag or two at twice the price as it was the year before. We made it but spent a ton of money. We found a somewhat good deal at a bulk store and bought 40 bags for this year, it was still almost $650. We’re hoping the price comes down as the supply goes up and so many people have so much, the demand will be less and force the price back down... just hoping. Thanks for watching and for the great comment.
@@CaptainWingnut omg that’s crazy that u spent that much money, talk about the dedication u have for hummingbirds. That’s awesome!!! I was just saying that it’s costing a lot but I love them so I don’t mind, but I know I’m not spending anywhere close to what ur spending so I guess I shd b grateful. Keep up the great work.
I put a yellow feeder (wasps like yellow) and fill it with a sweeter nectar than the hummingbird feeders. I place this feeder farther away from the hummingbird feeders in the yard. The wasps go to the sweeter feeder first. Something that works for me.
That's all fine and good but watch out for honeybees, they like it too....... Plus, the stiffer you make the nectar, the faster it turns to goo... Try my other video NO MORE WASPS. Thanks for commenting.
Use freshwater fishing string to hang feeders up with the ants fall off. Have been using it for years. Found the idea in a Birds and Blooms Magazine years ago. One strand of fresh water string only
Thanks!! I was putting peppermint oil. Lol. I read your response about peppermint attracting bees!! Now i will uss tea tree oil. Priceless information. Blessings to you!
I was having a difficult time last year keeping our honeybees off. I realized that my feeders were in the morning sun and the expansion of the nectar was causing them to leak slightly. I put an American Flag up in front of them and that helped the teatree oil to teach them to stay away.
You’re wrong! Hummingbirds are made to tolerate high glucose. Most natural flower nectars (their natural food) are equal to 1:1 sugar water. WE LEARN THIS IN BEEKEEPING 101 Stop Projecting human diabetes onto an animal that is made to tolerate it and stop propagating this stupid rumor. It’s NOT science to say it hurts their liver. It doesn’t.
Thank you !! Thank you, it worked ,the bees are gone , now my question is how often do I use the tea tree oil on my feeders ??? Thank you I was about to give up .
There sure are a ton of different uses for tea tree oil! Insecticide. Anti-fungal. And now, a way to keep those pesky bees/wasps/hornets (also wards off the occasional praying mantis trying to post up by your feeders) away from my hummingbird feeders - Awesome!
I have 4 feeders on my garden shed similar to your setup but they are on a curtain rod suspended on a couple of long hooks attached to the shed roof. On each hook I installed an ant moat (I made mine from the tops of 1 quart soda bottles but there are manufactured ones) and added 1/4 inch of vegetable oil. The oil won't evaporate and it has lower surface tension than water so the ants sink right in. That covers the land approach. There are plenty of yellow jackets, wasps, and honey bees in our garden but they never bother the feeders for whatever reason. We have a lemon tree 5 feet away from the feeders whose flowers the bees are always visiting but they thankfully ignore the feeders.
Thanks David, It’s so interesting to hear what people do to keep the pests away. As beekeepers, I can tell you that you must be in an area where there is plenty of natural nectar for the bees. When clover and alfalfa is in bloom they are absent from our feeders too but as soon as the hay is cut, since we’re at 7,000’ elevation, the bees are looking for large nectar sources of which hummingbird feeders “fit the bill”!
I goggled the bee problem today and immediately put the tea tree on the feeder ports. My must have some backwoods country bees because they braved it and kept drinking.
The tee tree oil ATTRACTED over a dozen bees within an hour! It was crawling with them, and now even sprayed with soap and vinegar, they're hovering around. The Hummers are frightened away. Thanks a lot, chum.
If you used pure tea tree oil, insects are repelled by it, not attracted by it. It is deadly to insects and they can sense it so they don’t want to touch it.
Well they certainly “Charm” us. A flock by the dictionary is: a number of birds of one kind feeding, resting, or traveling together, so I guess its a descriptive noun to describe a particular species like: a “Murder” of crows, a “Conspiracy” of ravens, a “Museum” of waxwings, a “Chime” of wrens, or a “Wake” of buzzards… among many others. They’er all flocks but with a descriptive noun, one particular species is identified. Thanks for the lesson!
To date the best info. Is it hard to keep the geefera clean. I saw a you tube video of a guy making hummybird feeders using empty soya bottles Great way to recycle and keep the birds safe.
Some very interesting comments. Mom allways used cotton balls on the hanger or string that holds the feeder up. She used baby oil on the cotton ball. It might work on the feeder flower as well.
Cinnamon candies are delicioius for us but are not good for hummingbirds. All the reputable ornithological organizations (Audubon, Cornell University) say to NOT use aritficial red coloring. Cinnamon candies get their red color from fake ingredients and not cinnamon. Nectar for feeders should contain only white granulated sugar and water; nothing else. Please go to some of those websites to learn why we shouldn't use red food coloring.
Thanks for your comment but let me educate you in science vs rumor and unscientific innuendo in this matter. To do so, read MY article and research paper about the DDT scare of 1972 and how that transmuted into the Red Dye scare of 1976 and 1990 for humans and how that further transmuted into the Red Dye scare for all other animals and then hummingbirds. These rumors and innuendo took the country by storm in the 70’s through 90’s by people passing on unscientific rumor and hype and unfortunately they still abound and are propagated by people not willing to research the WHY vs the emotion today. You probably weren’t alive back then so ask someone who was, about the Red Dye scare and how prevalent it was. It was disproved over time as many rumors are but once that ball gets rolling, they never seem to stop. My Ph.D. is in behavioral psychology so I look at the WHY and behaviorally how did we get to this WHY above all else. I was extremely critical of my students to make sure they knew ALL of the facts and did not bring hype, innuendo or fiction into their thoughts and papers. If you’ll examine the data in my paper you see that Red Dyes have not been proven any more harmful to hummingbirds than humans, and over the past 30 years the data does not stand with the hype and innuendo rumors. Therefore if “reputable ornithological organizations” are still propagating the myth and rumor of “Red Dye”, they’re probably also propagating the myth and rumor of DDT too, just proving that they’re more political than scientific in some of their beliefs. This saddens me as they are scientific organizations who use empirical data to prove their research, but they are still leaning on rumor on this one. They know my paper is out there but they chose to turn their heads to it, versus standing up for the truth. It’s easier to lean on the rumor than having to take back their words and admit they jumped in too soon. Their turning their heads to the scientific truth that there is no conclusive proof that Red Dye is bad, doesn’t make the data in my paper any less true that there is no harm in Red Dye. Reading my paper you’ll also learn that there are 23 Red Dyes, and your precious reputable ornithological organizations don’t even know which of the 23 is the, so called “Bad One” and then the question... Why Just Red?. Behaviorally, they really don't care about the Red Dye scare, they're busy with other things. Thanks for reading... cougarridgeranch.com/hummingbird-nectar-recipe/
@@CaptainWingnut the reason they say "red dye" and not other dye is bc ppl think red color attracts hummingbirds, and so they want more red on their feeder Look at all your hummingbird feeders, 90% of them are red
Milo Thompson Vought If you watch some of my other videos, you’ll see that the hummingbirds can SMELL the sugar nectar. They will even go drink it out of a cup on the ground while we’re filling the feeders. Hummingbird feeders are red in color for sure but the nectar need not be red or any other color... True they are attracted to brightly colored flowers, many of which are red, but they also like the yellow, purple and blue ones.
They do sale humming bird feeders with cups on top of the feeders so you put water in the cup they can't crawl down pass the water to get to the bottom where the birds drink that's what I use to keep the ants out of the nectar
The Tea Tree oil works great. What is the best way to clean the feeder after using the tea tree oil? After a few applications the feeder gets real sticky and it is hard to clean it off. I am assuming that is from the tea tree oil-or is it from the sugar water?
I got the feeders and the oil and it all works great. Thanks so much. I have a problem with aggressive male hummingbirds that wont let any other hummingbirds near the feeders. I have placed them farther apart but there seems to be one aggressive hummingbird for each each of my 4 feeders. Do tou have this problem?
We do have this problem at the beginning and end of the season but in between we have such large numbers at the feeders (the ranch is the breeding grounds for 4 species), the aggressive males give up.
Last year was my first year having feeders up. I was so sad when the little guys deployed for the Winter. But they are back. I have a few red ribbons near my feeders but out of the way.
When should we take away the feeders in zone 5? Last couple years we take them down when we no longer see the lil guys… Typically we leave them for the stragglers. This year went much like yours in that one last super late hard frost took most the adult hummers 😢 As the babies fledged the numbers increased, but now there may be a handful or less left. Since you are the authority on this (and so many more) matters… We ask you. Also, we have visited your other channel and checked out some merch of facepage. We were looking for soap and honey- just not sure if you are still doing that. TY for alllll you share with us. You’re the best ❤ Derek and Michella Payne
I have a moat the hangs above my feeder, ants won’t cross water, ever. Made it out of the top few inches of a water bottle. It works great and now the nuthatches and chickadees like to drink from it.
Is tea tree oil harmless to hummingbirds? I've been using peppermint essential oil and doing something similar that seems to work great too. We have a big honeybee problem with the feeders, and I don't want to kill them for obvious reasons, so hopefully tea tree oil will work better.
Yes, the tea tree oil is harmless to the hummers, it’s on the exterior of the feeding station which they stick their bill through, never touching the oil. As for Peppermint oil, bees LOVE IT. As beekeepers we FEED our bees vitamins and probiotics and lace it with peppermint and spearmint oil to get them to eat it. If you’re using peppermint oil in an attempt to repel bees, you’re actually attracting them. Things we use as bee attractants: Peppermint Oil, Spearmint Oil, Wintergreen Oil (which is peppermint/spearmint oil) and cinnamon oil or powder. Bees love most essential oils EXCEPT Tea Tree Oil. CAUTION: Be Extremely careful with Lemongrass Essential Oil. This oil mimics the scent of the queen bee. If you have it on you, it WILL attract bees and they will become aggressive with it. When we create a new bee colony, we use a couple of drops of lemongrass essential oil in the bottom of a new hive box to make the new worker bees think that they’re queen is already home. We do this to calm them down until their new queens pheromones fill the space. In the box they’re calmed by the scent, but if its on you, it enrages them thinking you’ve got the queen and are harming her. We are very careful NOT to get any of it on us and usually only one person handles putting the oil in the bottom of the box. If we can put it in the day before, even better because it’s only in the hive box and no on anyone.
You’re welcome. Yes this year has been a particular spectacular year for insects on our feeders too. I’m daubing the feeders with tea tree oil almost every other day just to keep the ants and bees off. I’m waiting for the ant killer to kick in. It’s very slow but takes the entire colony down so for now its tea tree oil to the rescue.
The tea tree oil really works! I just chased away the bees off of my three feeders. I used a sprayer with some diluted tea tree oil, the next round will consist of pure tea tree oil when I take the hangers down and rub them. Thanks for the tip. By the way I am in Cedar Hill TX.
Thank you for this video. I have just gotten into hummingbirds and was struggling with the bees. Your Tea Tree Oil tip worked perfectly. I am using ant water catchers for the ants and so far so good! Do you know how often I will need to reapply the oil? I am guessing after each heavy rain. Thanks again! Nicely done video
When you spray that on top the feeders, when it rains, it would flow into the feeder. Wouldn't that be toxic to the hummers, or do you not have that much rain to worry about it?
Lori A Its a very sticky oil and its hard to wash off with soap let alone rain, and you’re not SPRAYING it,,, you gently wipe a tiny film with a cotton ball onto each flower feeding station...
Yes. Depending on a few factors… 1- Boiling dissolves it faster, commercial beekeepers have a 300 gallon tub with an electric paddle, the water goes in, the sugar goes in and the paddle stirs it all night long ready in the morning… Bees eat it up much faster than hummingbirds… if you can imagine that! 2- Boiled sugar water does not crystalize as fast if you have slow eaters… 3- Boiling removes small impurities in the water 4- Boiling sterilizes the nectar and slows contaminate growth, but this is only sterile until the first beak dips in!! 5- Boiling emulsifies the sugar into a more consistent nectar. In the end I think its personal choice, my chemistry intellect says it probably doesn’t matter one way or the other for hummers… I’ve tried the non boil method and my 4+ gallons are not totally dissolved by morning so to get ‘er done quicker, I boil. Thanks for asking.
We've messed around with one humming bird feeder and dealt with the bees and ants. Appreciate the info. Maybe we'll try again and enjoy watching the birds again.
You’re right but for us, its too difficult to maintain ant moats and feeders with the numbers that we have, plus, moats don’t do a thing for bees, hornets and wasps and we needed to find something that was easy and worked for all of the above... And yes we’ve captured flickers and woodpeckers on video using their long tongues to drink from the feeders.
It’s funny, I never see my goldfinches using my regular birdbaths, but they love to drink from the built-in ant moat in the center of my hummingbird feeder!
@@judyjamison9860 That's funny, or ironic... we used to have a dog who, if the toilet seat was up, refused to drink from her bowl and preferred the toilet!! Yuk! Guess she liked really COLD water!
@@CaptainWingnut, what can I use for bald-faced hornets and yellowjackets swarming the grape jelly feeders for orioles (the kind where you can screw the jelly jar onto feeder upside down and then either squeeze or crank jelly onto a tray) ???
Our issue is yellow jackets/wasps...... will the tea tree oil repel them... and also wondering.. that stuff you sprayed on top of the feeders... it only kills insects? It does not hurt the bees??
I always keep my feeder in the shade, if you have a feeder in the sun it cooks the nectar and causes the hummingbirds tongues to swell up and they starve to death.
I never use hummingbird feeders that have yellow plastic flowers. Plants on the blue and yellow end of the color spectrum attract bees because those are the colors they can easily see.
Yes it does. None of the insect like Tea Tree Oil while the hummingbirds don't mind it a bit. I also have another video on how to bait and kill hornets, ants and wasps. Don't forget to subscribe.
We only get a few days of 90 in late summer, sometimes an occasional day here and there. If you’re thinking it would harm the birds, it doesn’t. They drain those feeders daily. We make sugar water nectar replacement EVERYDAY to the tune of 3-6 gallons a day… they cost us a fortune in sugar but we’ve done it so long that when the males return in the spring, if we don’t have feeders out yet, they just hover where the feeders were last year. 3 years ago we moved the feeders to a new location and yet this year when the males returned, they were hovering where you see these feeders hanging where they have not hung for at least 3 years.
Nope... the rain water doesn't get in either!! Physics of hydraulics, plus the feeding station flowers are raised, plus if you did any research, its permethrin and that's not toxic to mammals or birds. Thanks for asking a "Reski" question!!
If you hang the feeders with wire or cord, you can keep ants off by coating the wire with Vaseline. Of course that doesn't stop flying insects so you still need the tea tree oil. I wonder if hummingbirds eat bees.
Perry Pelican Yes, we started with the Vaseline on a wire many years ago but as you point out, it only discourages the ants... What we found is that the bigger ants will just DIVE down onto the feeder and go for the sweetness without ever climbing down the wire. When their done they just jump off and hit the ground running. I’ve often cheered the hummingbirds on to just bite or slap the bees with their wings but in reality, they are deathly afraid of the bees, hornets and wasps. One sting and the bird will die so they can’t afford to be agressive. There are birds that eat bees “bee eaters” but thankfully we don’t have them as they would decimate our colonies and we wouldn’t get our honey.
No the Tea Tree doesn’t bother them a bit, in fact I think they like it there as the bees hate it and the hummers are deathly afraid of the bees. As for the cinnamon, that is only for ants, if and a BIG IF, you don’t have honey bees within 10 miles... Cinnamon to bees is a serious attractant. They love it. They eat it and love it. They can smell it for miles and come to get it. As beekeepers, we use it to calm them down and get them to go to water or into a new box. Be careful with cinnamon you’ll attract honey bees to your feeders. For ants use tea tree oil or water moats or grease on the hanger wire. Thanks for watching and asking a great question.
Tried it. Worked while the oil was damp. When it dried, it was like it wasn't there. It's been a hundred degrees here, so it dries fast . Doesn't work.
As you may have learned we’re beekeepers so we HAVE to deal with and not kill bees. We’re grateful nowadays that people are conscience about saving the bees and want to use alternative methods to keep them away but not kill them. You’ll notice that as soon as you get Tea Tree Oil daubed on each feeding station, the bees will try and try but they’ll eventually leave. They really hate the smell of it and the hummingbirds don’t seem to notice it at all. There are feeders with little bee screens but we have huge feeders and they don’t come with the screens. Some people try 1/4” hardware cloth (heavy screen) but we use 1/4” hardware cloth over the bee water stations to keep the rodents out of the water. The bees have no problem going right through the 1/4” spaces to get water, so this won’t work on hummingbird feeders. I’m toying with getting some 1/8” hardware cloth this spring and trying to fashion some little buttons of it over the feeding stations. I’m pretty sure the hummingbirds bill can get through that. Some times in the early spring the males arrive early in mid April and we occasionally find one that didn’t make it through some of our cold mountain April nights which can sometimes dip into the teens. Good luck.
So tonight I heard a huge crash against my second story window...it was a raccoon, he had crawled up the drain pipe to get to my feeders which solved my second problem, my feeders where getting dinged up apparently from the raccoons which was attracting the bees more. will try out your tricks to get rid of bees
I am really afraid of hornets and wasps. Always make my husband bring me the feeders to refill. Definitely going to try the tea tree oil. FYI if anyone uses tea tree oil in diffusers in your home and you have pets it can really make them sick. Just inhaling it is all they have to do.
Wow! Tea Tree Oil in diffusers? I don't think that would smell too pretty and I don't believe the fumes will do anything for insects, they have to be threatened with touching it, THAT'S what they really hate.
Interesting methods I had not heard of. I also feed better than a thousand hummingbirds year round in Temecula Ca. I defeat the ants by hanging my 24 32oz feeders from feeder stands and use grease as an ant barrier. About 5” per pole. The feeders have bee 🐝 Guards 6/ feeder. I use a hair thick hair band between the glass nectar reservoir and base that keeps bees from going after any leakage. This system has kept me bee and ant free now for years....
Eddie Wiest, wow thats great. Is the price of sugar killing you like it is me... I just bought 750 lbs on sale....but it was almost twice the price as last year... whoa! Hoping that as the Covid scare melts away the price comes down again. Thanks for your comment.
Will a permetherin solution harm hummingbirds? I have feeder hanging on a para cord and watch a steady stream of ants crossing it. Was going to spray the cord but the hummingbirds also purch on it.
I just put a small ball of axle grease on the feeder mount, the ants won't cross the grease...beese don't bother our feeders (cane sugar water)for some reason
Great tip unless you live in temperatures over 90° in which case the grease, what ever type you use melts like the wicked witch of oz. Thanks for watching
Hi Susy, thanks for the question. I apply it when I notice a few bees gathering on a feeder. Timing depends on a lot of variables like; how often the feeders are cleaned by rain or sprinklers, if you wash your feeders down at every filling, if they’re in the sun which dries out the Tea Tree Oil and other events.
Thank you for posting a video regarding bees and hornets on hummingbird feeders. We love our Hummers too and anticipate their arrival during the spring and summer. This year however they are competing with yellow jackets on their feeders. I just purchased tea tree oil and can't wait to try it's effectiveness.
Did the tea tree oil work for you? I have yellow jackets in the feeders live and dead and they harass the hummingbirds. Wondering if I seal the feeder holes to make them smaller of that would help keep the yellow bastards out
The hummingbird formula is not 2 parts water and one part water. It's 4 parts water and one part granulated sugar. That's 4 cups of water and one cup granulated sugar. Allow the sugar water to fully cool before filling the feeder. I like to put my sugar water in the refrigerator and fill the feeder with cold hummingbird juice. They really seem to love it cold, too. Especially on a hot day, too.
Here on the ranch we use QuickBait fly bate. It’s small pellets the size of lawn fertilizer pellets. You just follow the instructions and spread it around lightly. We put it on the ground in shady areas where flys go to stay cool, under the porches, on ledges etc. It’s something that the flies like to go lick (or what ever they do) and it kills them. When we had a dairy, we used it a lot to keep the flies down in the milking parlor. I don’t know where you live but we buy it at the farm supply store. Hope that helps.
Great question. No. Don’t use it. As beekeepers we use peppermint, spearmint and lemongrass oils to attract bees. Most essential oils will attract bees as they think its a blossom food source. They really like to eat peppermint, spearmint and lemongrass oils. They also really like to eat cinnamon. The only only oil that we’ve found that is a good repellant is Tea Tree Oil. We don’t use it in beekeeping but some beekeepers use it to push bees out of the honey supers before they remove the supers for extraction but we prefer not to have the repelling scent in the honey supers because we want them to go back into them once we give them back.
We have the Ruby Throat Hummers. They don't play well with the other Hummers. One bird tried to control the feeder. I have 2 out, well spread out and the same bird tries to protect them both. Usually a male and later in the season it will be a female. They chase the other birds off. I use caps from aerosol cans as a ant traps. Turned with the open end facing up on a coat hanger rod, the ants go in but can't get up and over.
Nice. We have 4 species that nest here and broad tails are very similar looking to ruby throated, in fact most people who see them think that's what they are. By far the worst are the Rufous. They show up very late in the season and have enough attitude to take over. While they have bird brains, they seem to know who feeds them as they will follow us all over to see what we're doing or what we have. Many times, they'll be drinking out of the feeders while I'm carrying and hanging them back up. They are fairly fearful of strangers and the Rufous will even buzz strangers who get close to the feeders. By the time the Rufous get here we have hundreds and sometime thousands and its very hard for any one or even a group to dominate the feeders. In the summer our house has more buzzing than our bee yard and its hard to sleep past sun up because of the roaring noise. Yes, there are so many, its not really buzzing, its a low roar noise, like when you're in a room with 10 fans on high speed. We've noticed over the years that the feeder domination is not present in the early morning and late evening feedings. Just at sun up and just prior to sunset. They all seem to cooperate and allow everyone a drink or two or three! Our first hummer of the season arrived 5 days ago on Apr 30th. It was cold, snowy and wet but we had a feeder waiting... he's still here and solo but I expect more will arrive within days if not hours. Thanks for watching........more coming.
We get alot of yellow jackets on ours. I don’t know what to do. I take towels put with me when i need to change the feeder, i imagine i look like a frog in a blender swatting all around me with the towels so i can get the feeder,
I have tried the tea tree oil, two nights I used it on my three hummingbird feeders and I woke up this morning and the bees are so bad you can't hardly see the base of the feeder, it's like the bees have taken over everything in my garden, what else can I do to stop this I am desperate. Thank you
First in reverse order, cinnamon will not repel the hummingbirds they don’t even seem to notice if its emulsified into their sugar nectar. Second, to your first question; Cinnamon oil or powder will definitely repel ants, but it will also DEFINITELY attract honeybees if they’re within 10 miles. You’ll trade one pest for another... If ants are the only problem, try tea tree oil, or some axle grease, crisco or other grease (not animal fat) on the hanger of your feeders or even on the tops of your feeders.. (I’ve watched ants avoid tea tree oil on the hanger clip and just jump off the roof onto the top of the feeder and climb down). When we lived in the city cinnamon repelled the ants and I never though twice about bees as there were no honeybees close and our bees were out of the city on farms. When we moved to the mountains and our bees are here with us... a different story... they can smell cinnamon from miles away and want it to eat. We use cinnamon to get the bees to notice things, like a new hive box or a new water source,,, ergo... tea tree oil. Thanks for watching and a great question.
any type of citrus oil will do! Citrus oils not only repel them but will kill them on contact! They hate all citrus... only problem with oils are that they are volatile so you have to keep reapplying, but if you are diligent, that is what kept them away from my mom's feeders! Another person said tie your feeders up with fresh water fishing line. The ants can't walk on it! Good luck! Also there are ant motes if none of that works... Good luck
Hey folks. I’ve heard this bfr. Every time is was not pure tea tree oil. Make sure it’s pure tea tree oil. Not from an essential oils co or air spray. It must be 100%, not diluted. Pure tea tree oil is actually deadly to insects so they instinctively know to leave it alone.
@@CaptainWingnut well then it must be the cotton balls I'm using because I used the same brand "Hollywood Beauty Tea Tree Oil" that was shown in the video.
Last year we had a serious cold snap the first week in June. The temp dropped to single digits and we found hundreds dead under the trees. It wiped out our garden and the hummingbirds. I have a camera set up and ready to live stream this year, hopefully we won't have another cold snap like that... it really decimated the population so I'm not sure how many will show up this spring.. Stay tuned
Great tip It took about 20 minutes for the bees to learn to avoid the feeder.
If you don’t want ants use freshwater fishing string to hang the feeders up with the ants can’t climb on them they fall off. Found the hint in a Birds and Blooms Magazine years ago and never had a problem again.
Yeah, but your logic is a D at best. The hanging part does nothing for the flying pests. Gotta look at the whole picture to be logical. Nothing wrong with fishing line and it’s a good but limited suggestion.
Thanks.
Did it .Works great to keep the bees & wasp away. But, now my humming birds are having to get used to the tea tree oil smell. But, their coming along. Thanks so much !
I've heard that cucumbers will deter the bees. But I know for a fact that hummingbirds are territorial and will fight off other hummingbirds to keep their sugar supply to themselves. Therefore, putting hummingbird feeders close will make one or two hummingbirds think the feeders are only theirs. You have to spread the feeders around different areas.
That’s so true when you have just a few hummers but when you have a few hundred like we do, we’ve found you can place the feeders right next to each other and it doesn’t matter. In the spring when the males arrive there are disputes and an occasional male will dominate a few feeders so we spread them apart about 20 feet, but as the arrival numbers grow we can put them closer because the shear masses overwhelm the males domination. The most dominate of the hummingbirds (male & female) are the RUFOUS (Selasphorus rufus). The arrive late and try to take everything over. The males harass the masses for about 3 days and then give up trying to dominate the line of feeders. Not to say there is total peace at the feeding stations, but there are so many Rufous males, they are kept busy fighting between themselves and the rest of the hummers all get their feed. Early mornings first feeding and last night last feedings are always very peaceful while mid day has domination antics. It’s interesting to note that as the fledglings arrive at the feeders, none of the male of any species harass them. The babies get a free pass at any feeder.
We have a sister that has about 15 feeders, lined in a row, and the hummingbirds gobble the nectar like there’s no tomorrie!! Love watching them.
Don't we all love the Occasional Expert... You know - those who have limited experience.
I find it interesting that OEs know and state facts but never have knowledge of all the facts available.
How do we ever survive without them?! Especially those that cannot see with their own eyes.
Great advice CRR!
I almost gave up on feeding the hummers because of the territorial fighting, then I heard an idea and it works great.
I originally had about 6-7 hummers trying to feed at the two feeders I had and one would always be vicious and try keep the others away. All my feeders are covered by my extended patio roof or under semi permanent umbrellas.
I added 6 more feeders within the same area and the bullys have given up trying to keep the now 30+ hummers fought off.
Only downside is that I now have to replenish the nectar every 1-1/2 to 2 days but it's really nice to constantly have them outside the windows.
@@rogerbivins9144 Oh, I’ve often seen videos of numerous feeders lined up with hummers feeding and no fighting and wondered how it happened. Did u see the study where a certain species of female hummers are mimicking the males in coloring to reduce the harassment by males. Ha.
Thankyou so much. My feeders were invaded with bees today. I wiped them w tea tree and in 10 minutes they were gone just in time for the evening rush hour
YW, You must be in the south as our males haven’t yet arrived this year.
@@CaptainWingnut yes im between Austin and SanAntonio. I put my feeders out on st patricks day and oh boy, they were waiting for me., which surprised me with the snow we had just 3 weeks earlier. Im in an apartment with 7 feeders, i know i have at least 5 pairs, probably more, that is just how many i can catch eating at one time. I feel bad about the bees because i really care about them too, just not like yesterday when they were harrassing the hummers. I saw a sugar water feeder specifically for bees, cant remember if on tic toc or my birds and blooms magazine. Ill be checking that out today. Its warming up this morning and i see them out there still scaring off hummers by hovering around the feeders trying to figure out how to get to them today.
@@raeboyd5596 Usually the bees want 1 to 1 sugar water but if times are tough, I’ve seen them go for 2 to 1. If it’s hot and you can make your nectar for the hummers 3 to 1 or 4 to 1 it may be too diluted for the bees and they’ll forget it... may is the “buzz” word here as bees need a lot of water as well and you never know WHAT they’ll tolerate... Hornets and Wasps on the other hand don’t mind the extra water... that’s why the tea tree oil comes in so handy, they ALL hate it.
On the other hand, if someone else close by has more concentrated nectar, you’ll lose your hummers to their feeders...
Good luck and thanks for great comments.
@@CaptainWingnut i gave up on my main 3 feeders, the expensive mason jar kind, because i noticed the bees didnt even bother w the dollar tree feeders. Theyd try the feeder hole and back out, unable to reach any sugar water and those feeders do not leak where the flowers punched in and the bottom seals, they didn't even circle the joint trying to find a leak. But they were braving the tea tree oil on the jar feeders, So i took down the 3 and went and got 10 more dollar tree feeders, a total of 13 now, and ive got at least 1 more pair of hummers and absolutely no bees finally! And i went back to 3 to 1 as i had always done till i started watching robbie in SoCal and she says 4 to 1. But my porch is so busy i want to keep them even if someone else puts feeders out. I have a tree right in front of my unit that they go sit in between trips to the feeders so i think they would stay. I have feedera between hanging flower pots , some high and some low, along with some deep bell flowers i planted for them. If i were a bird i would think it a paradise. When it gets hot ill set up the water bath for them, but for now its been cool, windy, rainy.
@@raeboyd5596 🙌
Thank you for the tip about tea tree oil. So far it's helping with the bees.
Glad to help
Thanks for the information. Your so lucky to have so many of these little guys around
They’re beautiful and fun, but having so many means a lot of noise.
Imagine all of those wings beating,,, some say it sounds like a beehive on steroids. I think it sounds like being in a room with 10 fans on high.
And don’t get me started on the cost of sugar! We go through 20-25 (25lb) bags of sugar a year feeding them. I wasn’t a problem until covid when everyone started hoarding sugar and its supply became low. We were driving over 100 miles last year just to buy a bag or two at twice the price as it was the year before. We made it but spent a ton of money. We found a somewhat good deal at a bulk store and bought 40 bags for this year, it was still almost $650. We’re hoping the price comes down as the supply goes up and so many people have so much, the demand will be less and force the price back down... just hoping.
Thanks for watching and for the great comment.
@@CaptainWingnut omg that’s crazy that u spent that much money, talk about the dedication u have for hummingbirds. That’s awesome!!! I was just saying that it’s costing a lot but I love them so I don’t mind, but I know I’m not spending anywhere close to what ur spending so I guess I shd b grateful. Keep up the great work.
Thank you. I’ve always done 1 cup sugar to 4 cups water. One of the feeders I bought yrs ago had that as the directions.
I was coming on to comment abt that. You are correct abt the 4 to 1 ratio.
@@TRoth858 Thanks!
Yes 4 cups water to 1 cup sugar
I live in the Northeast. I have always used a 1:4 mixture. I’ve never heard of using a 1:2 mix. That is very concentrated.
Cougar Ranch answered Marvin Doolin, 5 months ago about the same thing. scroll through the comments to find the answer. :)
I’ve always used the 1:3 mix.
So have I, 1 cup water and 1/4 cup sugar and read a lot to make sure it is still correct❤
I put a yellow feeder (wasps like yellow) and fill it with a sweeter nectar than the hummingbird feeders. I place this feeder farther away from the hummingbird feeders in the yard. The wasps go to the sweeter feeder first. Something that works for me.
That's all fine and good but watch out for honeybees, they like it too.......
Plus, the stiffer you make the nectar, the faster it turns to goo...
Try my other video NO MORE WASPS.
Thanks for commenting.
O
THE TEA TREE OIL DOES NOT WORK ON YELLOWJACKETS WHICH IS WHERE I HAVE THE BIGGEST PROBLEM
Thank you for the great video! The ants were overtaking my feeders. I’ll be stopping by the local feed store this week.
Use freshwater fishing string to hang feeders up with the ants fall off. Have been using it for years. Found the idea in a Birds and Blooms Magazine years ago. One strand of fresh water string only
@@graceislove3
Are you taking about monofilament?
Thanks!! I was putting peppermint oil. Lol. I read your response about peppermint attracting bees!! Now i will uss tea tree oil. Priceless information. Blessings to you!
I don't no if I told you ,my 12 feeders were invaded too I trued the teatree and it worked ,I was so happy I was gonna give up ,thank you thank you
I was having a difficult time last year keeping our honeybees off. I realized that my feeders were in the morning sun and the expansion of the nectar was causing them to leak slightly.
I put an American Flag up in front of them and that helped the teatree oil to teach them to stay away.
1 cup sugar to 4 cups water,your mixture is hard on their kidneys...But great info about the bees.
You’re wrong!
Hummingbirds are made to tolerate high glucose. Most natural flower nectars (their natural food) are equal to 1:1 sugar water.
WE LEARN THIS IN BEEKEEPING 101
Stop Projecting human diabetes onto an animal that is made to tolerate it and stop propagating this stupid rumor. It’s NOT science to say it hurts their liver. It doesn’t.
Thank you for this valuable information. We have WASPS that are unrelenting!!
Thank you !! Thank you, it worked ,the bees are gone , now my question is how often do I use the tea tree oil on my feeders ??? Thank you I was about to give up .
As often as needed.
Hoping this helps!! I bought 100% Tea Tree Oil, it says essential oil, is that the same thing?? Ty. 😊
Yes it is!
I’ve been using a shmear of Aquaphor on the tops and cords of my feeders. Ants don’t like their feet touching it.
There sure are a ton of different uses for tea tree oil! Insecticide. Anti-fungal. And now, a way to keep those pesky bees/wasps/hornets (also wards off the occasional praying mantis trying to post up by your feeders) away from my hummingbird feeders - Awesome!
I have 4 feeders on my garden shed similar to your setup but they are on a curtain rod suspended on a couple of long hooks attached to the shed roof. On each hook I installed an ant moat (I made mine from the tops of 1 quart soda bottles but there are manufactured ones) and added 1/4 inch of vegetable oil. The oil won't evaporate and it has lower surface tension than water so the ants sink right in. That covers the land approach. There are plenty of yellow jackets, wasps, and honey bees in our garden but they never bother the feeders for whatever reason. We have a lemon tree 5 feet away from the feeders whose flowers the bees are always visiting but they thankfully ignore the feeders.
Thanks David,
It’s so interesting to hear what people do to keep the pests away.
As beekeepers, I can tell you that you must be in an area where there is plenty of natural nectar for the bees. When clover and alfalfa is in bloom they are absent from our feeders too but as soon as the hay is cut, since we’re at 7,000’ elevation, the bees are looking for large nectar sources of which hummingbird feeders “fit the bill”!
How much
I goggled the bee problem today and immediately put the tea tree on the feeder ports. My must have some backwoods country bees because they braved it and kept drinking.
The tee tree oil ATTRACTED over a dozen bees within an hour! It was crawling with them, and now even sprayed with soap and vinegar, they're hovering around. The Hummers are frightened away. Thanks a lot, chum.
If you used pure tea tree oil, insects are repelled by it, not attracted by it. It is deadly to insects and they can sense it so they don’t want to touch it.
...sooo, you can spell "attracted" in caps, but not "tea"? Hmmmmm...
When the Hummers gather like this, it is called a "Charm" (not a flock). Great simple solutions! Thanks!!!
Well they certainly “Charm” us.
A flock by the dictionary is: a number of birds of one kind feeding, resting, or traveling together,
so I guess its a descriptive noun to describe a particular species like: a “Murder” of crows, a “Conspiracy” of ravens, a “Museum” of waxwings, a “Chime” of wrens, or a “Wake” of buzzards… among many others.
They’er all flocks but with a descriptive noun, one particular species is identified.
Thanks for the lesson!
You’re AWSOME!
OMG.....I have only 3-4 beautiful hummers!! Connecticut......I cherish them.....
To date the best info. Is it hard to keep the geefera clean. I saw a you tube video of a guy making hummybird feeders using empty soya bottles
Great way to recycle and keep the birds safe.
Some very interesting comments. Mom allways used cotton balls on the hanger or string that holds the feeder up. She used baby oil on the cotton ball. It might work on the feeder flower as well.
The hummers don't like it (cotton balls) on the feeder flower, but on the hanging hook works, but just for ants.
Cinnamon candies are delicioius for us but are not good for hummingbirds. All the reputable ornithological organizations (Audubon, Cornell University) say to NOT use aritficial red coloring. Cinnamon candies get their red color from fake ingredients and not cinnamon. Nectar for feeders should contain only white granulated sugar and water; nothing else. Please go to some of those websites to learn why we shouldn't use red food coloring.
Thanks for your comment but let me educate you in science vs rumor and unscientific innuendo in this matter. To do so, read MY article and research paper about the DDT scare of 1972 and how that transmuted into the Red Dye scare of 1976 and 1990 for humans and how that further transmuted into the Red Dye scare for all other animals and then hummingbirds. These rumors and innuendo took the country by storm in the 70’s through 90’s by people passing on unscientific rumor and hype and unfortunately they still abound and are propagated by people not willing to research the WHY vs the emotion today. You probably weren’t alive back then so ask someone who was, about the Red Dye scare and how prevalent it was. It was disproved over time as many rumors are but once that ball gets rolling, they never seem to stop. My Ph.D. is in behavioral psychology so I look at the WHY and behaviorally how did we get to this WHY above all else. I was extremely critical of my students to make sure they knew ALL of the facts and did not bring hype, innuendo or fiction into their thoughts and papers. If you’ll examine the data in my paper you see that Red Dyes have not been proven any more harmful to hummingbirds than humans, and over the past 30 years the data does not stand with the hype and innuendo rumors. Therefore if “reputable ornithological organizations” are still propagating the myth and rumor of “Red Dye”, they’re probably also propagating the myth and rumor of DDT too, just proving that they’re more political than scientific in some of their beliefs. This saddens me as they are scientific organizations who use empirical data to prove their research, but they are still leaning on rumor on this one. They know my paper is out there but they chose to turn their heads to it, versus standing up for the truth. It’s easier to lean on the rumor than having to take back their words and admit they jumped in too soon. Their turning their heads to the scientific truth that there is no conclusive proof that Red Dye is bad, doesn’t make the data in my paper any less true that there is no harm in Red Dye. Reading my paper you’ll also learn that there are 23 Red Dyes, and your precious reputable ornithological organizations don’t even know which of the 23 is the, so called “Bad One” and then the question... Why Just Red?. Behaviorally, they really don't care about the Red Dye scare, they're busy with other things. Thanks for reading...
cougarridgeranch.com/hummingbird-nectar-recipe/
@@CaptainWingnut the reason they say "red dye" and not other dye is bc ppl think red color attracts hummingbirds, and so they want more red on their feeder Look at all your hummingbird feeders, 90% of them are red
Milo Thompson Vought If you watch some of my other videos, you’ll see that the hummingbirds can SMELL the sugar nectar. They will even go drink it out of a cup on the ground while we’re filling the feeders.
Hummingbird feeders are red in color for sure but the nectar need not be red or any other color... True they are attracted to brightly colored flowers, many of which are red, but they also like the yellow, purple and blue ones.
@@CaptainWingnut my uncle used ddt on his farm and sometimes came back drenched in it himself. He died at the young age of 100! Ha
They do sale humming bird feeders with cups on top of the feeders so you put water in the cup they can't crawl down pass the water to get to the bottom where the birds drink that's what I use to keep the ants out of the nectar
Thanks for the tip with the tea tree oil. I'll try that. Put some water On the top of feeder to keep ants out. I wouldn't use any chemicals at all.
The Tea Tree oil works great. What is the best way to clean the feeder after using the tea tree oil? After a few applications the feeder gets real sticky and it is hard to clean it off. I am assuming that is from the tea tree oil-or is it from the sugar water?
I got the feeders and the oil and it all works great. Thanks so much. I have a problem with aggressive male hummingbirds that wont let any other hummingbirds near the feeders. I have placed them farther apart but there seems to be one aggressive hummingbird for each each of my 4 feeders. Do tou have this problem?
We do have this problem at the beginning and end of the season but in between we have such large numbers at the feeders (the ranch is the breeding grounds for 4 species), the aggressive males give up.
Omgosh I’m so jealous! Several years ago we had 20+ but now, I’m lucky to see any 😪
Last year was my first year having feeders up. I was so sad when the little guys deployed for the Winter. But they are back. I have a few red ribbons near my feeders but out of the way.
Started out with 2 hummingbirds, now I got 3….used to have 8-10 last year, (Indiana) where did they all go?
When should we take away the feeders in zone 5? Last couple years we take them down when we no longer see the lil guys… Typically we leave them for the stragglers. This year went much like yours in that one last super late hard frost took most the adult hummers 😢 As the babies fledged the numbers increased, but now there may be a handful or less left. Since you are the authority on this (and so many more) matters… We ask you. Also, we have visited your other channel and checked out some merch of facepage. We were looking for soap and honey- just not sure if you are still doing that. TY for alllll you share with us. You’re the best ❤ Derek and Michella Payne
I leave my feeders up until mid Nov just to make sure any stragglers passing through have a sweet meal on their way.
I have a moat the hangs above my feeder, ants won’t cross water, ever. Made it out of the top few inches of a water bottle. It works great and now the nuthatches and chickadees like to drink from it.
Yeah, that works great for ants but not the flying invaders...
Is tea tree oil harmless to hummingbirds? I've been using peppermint essential oil and doing something similar that seems to work great too. We have a big honeybee problem with the feeders, and I don't want to kill them for obvious reasons, so hopefully tea tree oil will work better.
Yes, the tea tree oil is harmless to the hummers, it’s on the exterior of the feeding station which they stick their bill through, never touching the oil.
As for Peppermint oil, bees LOVE IT. As beekeepers we FEED our bees vitamins and probiotics and lace it with peppermint and spearmint oil to get them to eat it.
If you’re using peppermint oil in an attempt to repel bees, you’re actually attracting them.
Things we use as bee attractants: Peppermint Oil, Spearmint Oil, Wintergreen Oil (which is peppermint/spearmint oil) and cinnamon oil or powder.
Bees love most essential oils EXCEPT Tea Tree Oil.
CAUTION: Be Extremely careful with Lemongrass Essential Oil. This oil mimics the scent of the queen bee. If you have it on you, it WILL attract bees and they will become aggressive with it. When we create a new bee colony, we use a couple of drops of lemongrass essential oil in the bottom of a new hive box to make the new worker bees think that they’re queen is already home. We do this to calm them down until their new queens pheromones fill the space. In the box they’re calmed by the scent, but if its on you, it enrages them thinking you’ve got the queen and are harming her. We are very careful NOT to get any of it on us and usually only one person handles putting the oil in the bottom of the box. If we can put it in the day before, even better because it’s only in the hive box and no on anyone.
Glad you asked your question, received extra helpful information. Thank you @Cougar Ridge Ranch for sharing about the lemon grass oil.
@@lindacauley1173 👍
@@lindacauley1173 lemongrass attracts BEE swarms!! Beekeepers use it move swarms into boxes.
Thank you so much. As summer begins I've had an abundance of insects after the nectar. Some of my hummers have left. This makes since thank you.
You’re welcome. Yes this year has been a particular spectacular year for insects on our feeders too. I’m daubing the feeders with tea tree oil almost every other day just to keep the ants and bees off. I’m waiting for the ant killer to kick in. It’s very slow but takes the entire colony down so for now its tea tree oil to the rescue.
Here in s California I have a few year round. Then many more as they hibernate N to S and S to N.
What about regular cinnamon sprinkled into the sugar water ?
Honeybees are seriously attracted to cinnamon and love to eat it while ants hate it.
The tea tree oil really works! I just chased away the bees off of my three feeders. I used a sprayer with some diluted tea tree oil, the next round will consist of pure tea tree oil when I take the hangers down and rub them. Thanks for the tip. By the way I am in Cedar Hill TX.
That was just the reaction we had when we tried it for the first time. I REALLY works!
Glad to help.
Thank you for this video. I have just gotten into hummingbirds and was struggling with the bees. Your Tea Tree Oil tip worked perfectly. I am using ant water catchers for the ants and so far so good! Do you know how often I will need to reapply the oil? I am guessing after each heavy rain. Thanks again! Nicely done video
How much cinnamon candy do you use per hummingbird nectar? Can’t wait to try your tips this summer!!
When you spray that on top the feeders, when it rains, it would flow into the feeder. Wouldn't that be toxic to the hummers, or do you not have that much rain to worry about it?
Lori A Its a very sticky oil and its hard to wash off with soap let alone rain, and you’re not SPRAYING it,,, you gently wipe a tiny film with a cotton ball onto each flower feeding station...
@@CaptainWingnut I think she was talking about the Permectrin spray
Use 1 strand of fresh water fishing line to hang up your feeders, ants fall off the fishing string. You won’t need ant moats
@@graceislove3 wow, thanks
thank you so much.
Question - some people don't cook the sugar water, they dissolve the sugar and go. Is there a difference?
Yes. Depending on a few factors…
1- Boiling dissolves it faster, commercial beekeepers have a 300 gallon tub with an electric paddle, the water goes in, the sugar goes in and the paddle stirs it all night long ready in the morning… Bees eat it up much faster than hummingbirds… if you can imagine that!
2- Boiled sugar water does not crystalize as fast if you have slow eaters…
3- Boiling removes small impurities in the water
4- Boiling sterilizes the nectar and slows contaminate growth, but this is only sterile until the first beak dips in!!
5- Boiling emulsifies the sugar into a more consistent nectar.
In the end I think its personal choice, my chemistry intellect says it probably doesn’t matter one way or the other for hummers…
I’ve tried the non boil method and my 4+ gallons are not totally dissolved by morning so to get ‘er done quicker, I boil.
Thanks for asking.
I read that tea tree oil can be toxic to small animals .. hummers are tiny , have any of you experienced any problems with the tea tree oil ?
@@ren2627 They’re not eating it or even touching it… my thousands of hummers don’t seem to mind at all over many years.
Good Question…
Good Luck.
We've messed around with one humming bird feeder and dealt with the bees and ants. Appreciate the info. Maybe we'll try again and enjoy watching the birds again.
Thanks for the tip on the bees! Will try it !
Update, they didn’t care, still swarming…
How often do you have to retreat with the tea tree oil?
Sometimes daily to every other.
An ant moat cup will block the ants from getting to the feeder without killing them and different small birds also drink the water.
You’re right but for us, its too difficult to maintain ant moats and feeders with the numbers that we have, plus, moats don’t do a thing for bees, hornets and wasps and we needed to find something that was easy and worked for all of the above... And yes we’ve captured flickers and woodpeckers on video using their long tongues to drink from the feeders.
It’s funny, I never see my goldfinches using my regular birdbaths, but they love to drink from the built-in ant moat in the center of my hummingbird feeder!
@@judyjamison9860 That's funny, or ironic... we used to have a dog who, if the toilet seat was up, refused to drink from her bowl and preferred the toilet!! Yuk! Guess she liked really COLD water!
Heading out today to get some tee tree oil and hornet traps. Thanks for the great and easy tips.
Watch my video
NO MORE WASPS HORNETS OR ANTS
th-cam.com/video/6wElK5Jbr18/w-d-xo.html
Does the tea tree oil work for wasps also?
yes
@@CaptainWingnut, what can I use for bald-faced hornets and yellowjackets swarming the grape jelly feeders for orioles (the kind where you can screw the jelly jar onto feeder upside down and then either squeeze or crank jelly onto a tray) ???
Our issue is yellow jackets/wasps...... will the tea tree oil repel them... and also wondering.. that stuff you sprayed on top of the feeders... it only kills insects? It does not hurt the bees??
I always keep my feeder in the shade, if you have a feeder in the sun it cooks the nectar and causes the hummingbirds tongues to swell up and they starve to death.
i had no idea thank you. this is the 1st time I put it in the sun, that spot I dont have such an ant problem. I'll be regrouping
I never use hummingbird feeders that have yellow plastic flowers. Plants on the blue and yellow end of the color spectrum attract bees because those are the colors they can easily see.
You can buy hummingbird feeders with be guards and ant Moats and that'll do the job without harming the hummingbird
Does the tea tree oil repel hornets and wasps? That’s more my problem.
Yes it does. None of the insect like Tea Tree Oil while the hummingbirds don't mind it a bit. I also have another video on how to bait and kill hornets, ants and wasps. Don't forget to subscribe.
With that Sun Beaming on those Feeders please tell me what you think the temp of that water is that is on the Inside of that PLASTIC?
We only get a few days of 90 in late summer, sometimes an occasional day here and there.
If you’re thinking it would harm the birds, it doesn’t. They drain those feeders daily. We make sugar water nectar replacement EVERYDAY to the tune of 3-6 gallons a day… they cost us a fortune in sugar but we’ve done it so long that when the males return in the spring, if we don’t have feeders out yet, they just hover where the feeders were last year.
3 years ago we moved the feeders to a new location and yet this year when the males returned, they were hovering where you see these feeders hanging where they have not hung for at least 3 years.
The poison you spray on top of feeders...aren’t you worried that when it rains it will rehydrate and drip down into feeders?
Nope... the rain water doesn't get in either!! Physics of hydraulics, plus the feeding station flowers are raised, plus if you did any research, its permethrin and that's not toxic to mammals or birds.
Thanks for asking a "Reski" question!!
@@CaptainWingnut i did no research..asked the question after viewing your video...pretty COOL! 😎
@@PineGeri Glad you asked
More good information, thanks!
@@CaptainWingnut by the way..got the tea tree oil…works great…and the other “stuff” also works great…
For 8 cups of water how many cinnamon balls would you recommend ?
Thank you so much. Super,simple and informative
Glad it was helpful!
If you hang the feeders with wire or cord, you can keep ants off by coating the wire with Vaseline. Of course that doesn't stop flying insects so you still need the tea tree oil. I wonder if hummingbirds eat bees.
Perry Pelican Yes, we started with the Vaseline on a wire many years ago but as you point out, it only discourages the ants... What we found is that the bigger ants will just DIVE down onto the feeder and go for the sweetness without ever climbing down the wire. When their done they just jump off and hit the ground running. I’ve often cheered the hummingbirds on to just bite or slap the bees with their wings but in reality, they are deathly afraid of the bees, hornets and wasps. One sting and the bird will die so they can’t afford to be agressive. There are birds that eat bees “bee eaters” but thankfully we don’t have them as they would decimate our colonies and we wouldn’t get our honey.
I use Vicks...great minds!
Just tried tea tree. All the bees immediately left! Thank you so much
Thank you for your video. I’m definitely going to use the tea tree oil and the ant repellent.
Glad to be of help.
Buy ant moats to hang your feeders from the hooks!!
@@kathybroadway8160 Or you can make them like Nancy Valadez says above?
Thanks Brad for this information.
Thanks for sharing the great ideas
YW.🙏
I just love hummingbirds! New Sub here 🤗👍❤
Thanks and welcome, more coming.
Won't Tea tree oil harm the hummingbirds ? And how many cinnamon disks do u add to the nectar I do 4 cups water and 1 cup sugar
No the Tea Tree doesn’t bother them a bit, in fact I think they like it there as the bees hate it and the hummers are deathly afraid of the bees. As for the cinnamon, that is only for ants, if and a BIG IF, you don’t have honey bees within 10 miles...
Cinnamon to bees is a serious attractant. They love it. They eat it and love it. They can smell it for miles and come to get it.
As beekeepers, we use it to calm them down and get them to go to water or into a new box.
Be careful with cinnamon you’ll attract honey bees to your feeders.
For ants use tea tree oil or water moats or grease on the hanger wire.
Thanks for watching and asking a great question.
Tried it. Worked while the oil was damp. When it dried, it was like it wasn't there. It's been a
hundred degrees here, so it dries fast . Doesn't work.
It does work... I put it on every morning in the heat.
Thank you so much for your wisdom!!! Grreat videos!!!
Thanks for the info! I will definitely try the tea tree oil. The bees are awful here in Pennsylvania with the hummingbird feeders.
As you may have learned we’re beekeepers so we HAVE to deal with and not kill bees. We’re grateful nowadays that people are conscience about saving the bees and want to use alternative methods to keep them away but not kill them. You’ll notice that as soon as you get Tea Tree Oil daubed on each feeding station, the bees will try and try but they’ll eventually leave. They really hate the smell of it and the hummingbirds don’t seem to notice it at all.
There are feeders with little bee screens but we have huge feeders and they don’t come with the screens.
Some people try 1/4” hardware cloth (heavy screen) but we use 1/4” hardware cloth over the bee water stations to keep the rodents out of the water. The bees have no problem going right through the 1/4” spaces to get water, so this won’t work on hummingbird feeders.
I’m toying with getting some 1/8” hardware cloth this spring and trying to fashion some little buttons of it over the feeding stations.
I’m pretty sure the hummingbirds bill can get through that. Some times in the early spring the males arrive early in mid April and we occasionally find one that didn’t make it through some of our cold mountain April nights which can sometimes dip into the teens.
Good luck.
I have tried that and it didn't work
@@tonidibernardo171 SAME HERE
Thanks Brad! 👍
So tonight I heard a huge crash against my second story window...it was a raccoon, he had crawled up the drain pipe to get to my feeders which solved my second problem, my feeders where getting dinged up apparently from the raccoons which was attracting the bees more. will try out your tricks to get rid of bees
I am really afraid of hornets and wasps. Always make my husband bring me the feeders to refill. Definitely going to try the tea tree oil. FYI if anyone uses tea tree oil in diffusers in your home and you have pets it can really make them sick. Just inhaling it is all they have to do.
Wow! Tea Tree Oil in diffusers? I don't think that would smell too pretty and I don't believe the fumes will do anything for insects, they have to be threatened with touching it, THAT'S what they really hate.
Mary, thx so much.
Why would someone diffuse Tea Tree Oil?
Interesting methods I had not heard of. I also feed better than a thousand hummingbirds year round in Temecula Ca. I defeat the ants by hanging my 24 32oz feeders from feeder stands and use grease as an ant barrier. About 5” per pole.
The feeders have bee 🐝 Guards 6/ feeder. I use a hair thick hair band between the glass nectar reservoir and base that keeps bees from going after any leakage.
This system has kept me bee and ant free now for years....
Eddie Wiest, wow thats great. Is the price of sugar killing you like it is me... I just bought 750 lbs on sale....but it was almost twice the price as last year... whoa! Hoping that as the Covid scare melts away the price comes down again. Thanks for your comment.
It’s expensive but well worth it... ;)
You always seem to have very interesting yet simple ways to repel or kill these little MOFOS!!
Time in the tank
Good advise found here! Thanks 😊
Awesome tips thanks
Will a permetherin solution harm hummingbirds?
I have feeder hanging on a para cord and watch a steady stream of ants crossing it.
Was going to spray the cord but the hummingbirds also purch on it.
No. We use it all the time. Hummingbirds are exposed to the same natural killers from common marigolds and painted daisies.
@@CaptainWingnut thank you
I just put a small ball of axle grease on the feeder mount, the ants won't cross the grease...beese don't bother our feeders (cane sugar water)for some reason
Great tip unless you live in temperatures over 90° in which case the grease, what ever type you use melts like the wicked witch of oz.
Thanks for watching
Your humming birds are so much nicer than mine. My birds are territorial and chase each other away from the feeders
Mine too! But having multiple feeder's helps.
You wander around a bit in your presentation but it has genuinely good helps in it. Thanks. I'm getting me some of that tee tree oil stuff.
Glad it was helpful!
Hello Mr. Brad, how often do you need to put the tea tree oil on the feeders?
Hi Susy, thanks for the question.
I apply it when I notice a few bees gathering on a feeder.
Timing depends on a lot of variables like; how often the feeders are cleaned by rain or sprinklers, if you wash your feeders down at every filling, if they’re in the sun which dries out the Tea Tree Oil and other events.
@@CaptainWingnut Thank you very much. This his helpful, makes total sense.
How many times A-day do you put the tea oil on
Does sugar water give them cavities? Like teeth?
Thank you for posting a video regarding bees and hornets on hummingbird feeders. We love our Hummers too and anticipate their arrival during the spring and summer. This year however they are competing with yellow jackets on their feeders. I just purchased tea tree oil and can't wait to try it's effectiveness.
Did the tea tree oil work for you? I have yellow jackets in the feeders live and dead and they harass the hummingbirds. Wondering if I seal the feeder holes to make them smaller of that would help keep the yellow bastards out
The hummingbird formula is not 2 parts water and one part water. It's 4 parts water and one part granulated sugar. That's 4 cups of water and one cup granulated sugar. Allow the sugar water to fully cool before filling the feeder. I like to put my sugar water in the refrigerator and fill the feeder with cold hummingbird juice. They really seem to love it cold, too. Especially on a hot day, too.
Great video!
Glad you liked it. Some critics are not so kind.
Thanks for watching
Do you have a video or advice on killing flies? Thanks!
Here on the ranch we use QuickBait fly bate. It’s small pellets the size of lawn fertilizer pellets. You just follow the instructions and spread it around lightly. We put it on the ground in shady areas where flys go to stay cool, under the porches, on ledges etc. It’s something that the flies like to go lick (or what ever they do) and it kills them. When we had a dairy, we used it a lot to keep the flies down in the milking parlor. I don’t know where you live but we buy it at the farm supply store.
Hope that helps.
I will get some of that! We are in a rural region in Louisiana and the flies are terrible at certain times of the summer.
@@dominodarwin 👍
Does that method deter yellow jackets and hornets too? I had a hornet trap this year but didn’t work.
yes
Does Peppermint oil work also? To keep bees away?
Great question.
No. Don’t use it.
As beekeepers we use peppermint, spearmint and lemongrass oils to attract bees. Most essential oils will attract bees as they think its a blossom food source. They really like to eat peppermint, spearmint and lemongrass oils. They also really like to eat cinnamon. The only only oil that we’ve found that is a good repellant is Tea Tree Oil. We don’t use it in beekeeping but some beekeepers use it to push bees out of the honey supers before they remove the supers for extraction but we prefer not to have the repelling scent in the honey supers because we want them to go back into them once we give them back.
Thank you so much! This has been bugging me the last couple of days. I will try this later.
Pun intended? 😂
How often do you put tea tree oil on feeders?
Every time we fill them
Thanks for the help. Our feeders have an area for water on the top and the ants won't swim for their food but I will try the tea tree oil.
Great info to know thank you
Glad it was helpful!
Amazing! Worked well! THANK YOU, for the great video. Very much appreciated!
We have the Ruby Throat Hummers. They don't play well with the other Hummers. One bird tried to control the feeder. I have 2 out, well spread out and the same bird tries to protect them both. Usually a male and later in the season it will be a female. They chase the other birds off.
I use caps from aerosol cans as a ant traps. Turned with the open end facing up on a coat hanger rod, the ants go in but can't get up and over.
Nice.
We have 4 species that nest here and broad tails are very similar looking to ruby throated, in fact most people who see them think that's what they are.
By far the worst are the Rufous. They show up very late in the season and have enough attitude to take over. While they have bird brains, they seem to know who feeds them as they will follow us all over to see what we're doing or what we have. Many times, they'll be drinking out of the feeders while I'm carrying and hanging them back up. They are fairly fearful of strangers and the Rufous will even buzz strangers who get close to the feeders.
By the time the Rufous get here we have hundreds and sometime thousands and its very hard for any one or even a group to dominate the feeders.
In the summer our house has more buzzing than our bee yard and its hard to sleep past sun up because of the roaring noise. Yes, there are so many, its not really buzzing, its a low roar noise, like when you're in a room with 10 fans on high speed.
We've noticed over the years that the feeder domination is not present in the early morning and late evening feedings. Just at sun up and just prior to sunset. They all seem to cooperate and allow everyone a drink or two or three!
Our first hummer of the season arrived 5 days ago on Apr 30th. It was cold, snowy and wet but we had a feeder waiting... he's still here and solo but I expect more will arrive within days if not hours.
Thanks for watching........more coming.
Ppl
- Cougar Ridge Ranch ppl
- Cougar Ridge Ranch l
We get alot of yellow jackets on ours. I don’t know what to do. I take towels put with me when i need to change the feeder, i imagine i look like a frog in a blender swatting all around me with the towels so i can get the feeder,
Watch my other video, NO MORE WASPA
Thanks I been using a shop vac
I have tried the tea tree oil, two nights I used it on my three hummingbird feeders and I woke up this morning and the bees are so bad you can't hardly see the base of the feeder, it's like the bees have taken over everything in my garden, what else can I do to stop this I am desperate. Thank you
Thank you! Would it work if I put a dab of cinnamon oil on bottom of feeder To keep the ants away? Would it bother the hummingbirds? Thank you sir
First in reverse order, cinnamon will not repel the hummingbirds they don’t even seem to notice if its emulsified into their sugar nectar.
Second, to your first question;
Cinnamon oil or powder will definitely repel ants, but it will also DEFINITELY attract honeybees if they’re within 10 miles.
You’ll trade one pest for another...
If ants are the only problem, try tea tree oil, or some axle grease, crisco or other grease (not animal fat) on the hanger of your feeders or even on the tops of your feeders.. (I’ve watched ants avoid tea tree oil on the hanger clip and just jump off the roof onto the top of the feeder and climb down).
When we lived in the city cinnamon repelled the ants and I never though twice about bees as there were no honeybees close and our bees were out of the city on farms.
When we moved to the mountains and our bees are here with us... a different story... they can smell cinnamon from miles away and want it to eat. We use cinnamon to get the bees to notice things, like a new hive box or a new water source,,, ergo... tea tree oil.
Thanks for watching and a great question.
any type of citrus oil will do! Citrus oils not only repel them but will kill them on contact! They hate all citrus... only problem with oils are that they are volatile so you have to keep reapplying, but if you are diligent, that is what kept them away from my mom's feeders! Another person said tie your feeders up with fresh water fishing line. The ants can't walk on it! Good luck! Also there are ant motes if none of that works... Good luck
Got the tea tree oil today and tried it on my feeders. Did not work. In fact, it appeared as if the stuff was attracting them. Back to square one.
Me to i was like is it attracting more so go figure glade it wasn't just me
Tea tree oil not working for me either! Had to take down all my feeders cause they were covered with honey bees, near Seattle
Hey folks. I’ve heard this bfr.
Every time is was not pure tea tree oil.
Make sure it’s pure tea tree oil. Not from an essential oils co or air spray.
It must be 100%, not diluted.
Pure tea tree oil is actually deadly to insects so they instinctively know to leave it alone.
@@CaptainWingnut where do you get 100% ,not sure when shopping Amazon or other stores
@@CaptainWingnut well then it must be the cotton balls I'm using because I used the same brand "Hollywood Beauty Tea Tree Oil" that was shown in the video.
How about flies? I have the same feeders as you, but every other day, there are several dozen flies in the bottom part of the feeder.
You’ll need to lessen the fly population.
Watch my video How to Kill 10,000 FLIES
th-cam.com/video/d6I24NV-pZE/w-d-xo.html
You said you had lots and lots of hummingbirds shoot I was excited what's my two that I always get every year I wish I had more like yours LOL
Last year we had a serious cold snap the first week in June. The temp dropped to single digits and we found hundreds dead under the trees.
It wiped out our garden and the hummingbirds.
I have a camera set up and ready to live stream this year, hopefully we won't have another cold snap like that... it really decimated the population so I'm not sure how many will show up this spring..
Stay tuned