Hey guys,
I could really use your help. I am currently in the lovely mountains of Tennessee visiting some family. They have a few hummingbird feeders that are constantly tended to by wasps, and they chase the hummingbirds away.
What can they do to keep the wasps away from the feeders? Does anyone know any handy dandy tricks?
Thanks!
Well, hummingbirds have a long beak to reach into deep flowers, while wasps don't. So, perhaps a mesh screen with holes large enough for a hummingbird beak would do the trick.
You could try luring the wasps away with those toss away traps, or just skewer some bacon on a stick & lay it across a can or margarine tub w water in it. The wasps will try to take chunks of the meat & fall into the water. Looks pretty gross though after a couple of days & possums/raccoons will get it at night if you don't pick it up... :-P I'm jealous you still have hummers. Ours leave around the 4th of July with only stragglers from up north till sept. Jody
I'd say anything that makes it easier for the wasps to get to sugar water will lure them away from the feeders. Maybe just a bowl of sugar syrup that they can go to? I guess that's what they put in those wasp/yellow jacket traps.
I'd stick out a pan of clear sugar water nearby and see what happens.
Nelly
They sell feeders with longer tubes for the hummingbirds I believe. Usually you're not supposed to have them out over the summer if your garden is going well. The hummingbirds are to distracted by all the pretty flowers. In the spring and fall and maybe during a not so lush period of summer is when the feeders usually work best.
http://www.pestcontrolcanada.com/INSECTS/wasp_traps.htm
This may sound weird but last few years I replaced my hummer feeders with new ones as they broke down. The old ones had the yellow cages and after awhile the wasps would keep the hummers away and just about cover the feeders. This year I only have red feeders with no yellow and normally clear syrup and not one wasp has come by. There are plenty around since I find the dead bodies in my wax moth traps all the time. :lol: