Need suggestions on feeding wild bees. (1 Viewer)

I want to feed the wild bees. (Well, I don't know for sure if they are wild -- some may come from hives I am not aware of.) But it doesn't matter -- I want to feed them.

I plan to get a shallow red pan or bowl and hang it up in a shady spot -- to keep the ants out. I will use 1:1 sugar-water solution as a "syrup". I plan to only put about a quarter-to-half inch in bottom of pan to keep them from drowning. I plan to change it every other day so it doesn't go bad -- or more often if the bees eat a lot.

Any other suggestions -- or corrections?

Well, all I can tell you is they feast on the grape jelly I put out for the Orioles

KCFoggin said:

Well, all I can tell you is they feast on the grape jelly I put out for the Orioles

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Hey thanks. I've seen that somewhere else. Maybe I'll give that a try too -- see which one attracts more bees. Grape jelly is pretty cheap I think.

Well they don't seem as fussy as my Orioles who will only eat Welch's grape jelly

Thanks. I'm gonna try the sugar-water 1:1 mixture first. But even if the sugar-water is a hit, I will still try the grape jelly -- just to see. :t:

Well, I changed my mind and tried the grape jelly first. It attracted a fair amount of bees but some were stuck to it and couldn't fly away. I assisted the stuck ones by prying them loose with a stick and placing them in a branch of a nearby tree. Next I tried the sugar water syrup (1:1 mixture) with little wooden boards on the bottom of the bowl (like a raft) and a little wooden ramp so they could climb out (saw that on the internet). This afternoon there was a MASS of bees in the bottom of the shallow red bowl. Success! And this "bee feeder" is placed only about 10 feet (3 meters) from a hummingbird feeder. The bees have completely abandoned the HB feeder (which has a 4:1 water-sugar mixture) for the new "bee feeder". Amazing little creatures. Now, I wonder where the hives are.

Question: Will bees from different hives feed/forage in the same site? Or are all these bees I see from one hive?

Well, I've created a monster!!

Bees, hundreds of them, drinking 1:1 sugar-water syrup at the rate of one cup per hour (24 ml/hour). I bought what I thought was an adequate sized bowl, approx 6 in in diameter (15 cm). But now I will buy a larger bowl.

What's interesting is that I can move their hanging bowl, with all the bees still inside of it, without getting stung. I do it REAL SLOW.

Question: Will bees from different hives feed/forage in the same site? Or are all these bees I see from one hive? I read where bees have traveled up to 6 miles (~10 km) to forage and will readily do 1-2 miles.

Wild Bees

PumaMan said:

Well, I've created a monster!!

Bees, hundreds of them, drinking 1:1 sugar-water syrup at the rate of one cup per hour (24 ml/hour). I bought what I thought was an adequate sized bowl, approx 6 in in diameter (15 cm). But now I will buy a larger bowl.

What's interesting is that I can move their hanging bowl, with all the bees still inside of it, without getting stung. I do it REAL SLOW.

Question: Will bees from different hives feed/forage in the same site? Or are all these bees I see from one hive? I read where bees have traveled up to 6 miles (~10 km) to forage and will readily do 1-2 miles.

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To answer yer question, I can,t see why your bee,s can,nt be from
More than one hive, as you mentioned they do disperse quite well.

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