Date: 10/27/26 6:16 am From: Betsy Kane (via carolinabirds Mailing List) <carolinabirds...> Subject: Re: Honeybees at Baltimore Oriole feeders
Raw peanuts (shelled - NOT in the shells) are well loved by my wintering
orioles. Bees have no interest.
Get them at the State Farmers Market in Raleigh in the burlap sacks, 3 or 5
lbs each. Upper building with the vendors of prepared foods.
Raw shelled peanuts are also favorites of many other birds that eat suet
or insects, as well as seed-eaters. I use them all winter.
On Monday, October 26, 2026, Patty Mcquillan <carolinabirds...> wrote:
> Honeybees are eating the grape jelly meant for the Baltimore Orioles that
> have been wintering in my back yard for the past five or six years. (I use
> Whole Foods organic concord grape made with real sugar). Since the mornings
> are now cold, the Orioles can get the jelly for a limited time, then when
> the temperature reaches 50 degrees, the bees are back - about 40 or 50 of
> them. The Orioles have tried fighting off one or two, but they eye a big
> clump of bees and move on.
>
> Does anyone have a solution for keeping the bees away? I have tried
> cloves, olive oil and putting a shallow dish with sugar water in a separate
> location, but none worked. I called a bee keeper and he said that number of
> bees wasn’t worth his time. This is the first time I’ve had this problem. I
> thought about putting the feeder in a plastic tub and covering it when the
> bees converge on it, but if I release the bees elsewhere, would they
> survive without their hive (which I don’t know where that is located).
>
> When the Baltimore Orioles arrived from up North, they drank heartily from
> the two nectar feeders that didn’t have jelly, and they ate shelled peanuts
> from one feeder (which is unusual).
>
> You may reply directly to me instead of the list serve if any of you have
> suggestions.
>
> Thank you!
>
> Patty McQuillan
> Raleigh, North Carolina
> Wake County
