Could You Become a Bee Whisperer, Too
Every year at this time I help local honeybees that swarm my Hummingbird feeder
A couple of weeks ago my husband, I call him Mr. Pam, came inside and told me my Hummingbird feeder was once again covered with Honeybees.
This is the fourth year this has happened so I knew what I had to do.
Obviously I don’t hang the Hummingbird feeder for the bees, and the rest of the summer they leave it alone, but not at the end of summer. Oh I get it, due to a lack of flowers the bees take over the feeder because they are desperate to make enough honey to get them through the winter, but the Hummingbird feeder isn’t designed for them either.
When I witnessed this the first time I went online to Pinterest and looked up the problem and learned what I could do about it. Several articles suggested making honeybee nectar and placing it away from the Hummingbird feeder in order to draw the bees away. This seemed so logical and easy I decided to give it a try.
The Recipe for Honeybee Nectar:
Heat up one cup of water in the microwave until it’s HOT. Then slowly stir in 2 cups of white granulated sugar until it dissolves. It will become a thick syrup.
The ratio is 1–2 here.
Let this cool and then pour a couple of tablespoons of the bee nectar into a pie dish. Place the dish away from the Hummingbird feeder, but not too far away.
I go the extra mile by holding the pie plate under the Hummingbird feeder until a couple of curious bees land on it before I slowly walk it over to the other side of the tree. Mr. Pam can’t believe that I’ve never been stung. Well really — Would you sting a giant ‘bee whisperer’ bringing you lifesaving nectar? Honeybees aren’t stupid.
I replenish the pie plate in early morning, at noon and then again around 4pm.
After doing this for 4 years I have to wonder who’s trained who? Did I train the bees, or have they trained me?
I can only hope that some of you will try and save some rogue honeybees by using this method. After all, they need all the help they can get from us.
Thanks for reading and thoughtful writing everyone!