Date: 10/27/26 11:01 am From: John Connors (via carolinabirds Mailing List) <carolinabirds...> Subject: Re: Honeybees at Baltimore Oriole feeders
Hi Patty. Also in Raleigh and just this week a couple of orioles
returned to my grape jelly feeders. Luckily, I have no problem with
honeybees, I suspect the lure of the camellia blooms holds their attention.
But if I did have that problem, I would experiment: 1 by relocating my
feeder on a regular basis until it gets cold. Or 2. locate the feeder in
the coolest, shadiest place the orioles could access. Cool and shade might
deter the honeybees.
Good luck.
John Connors
Raleigh
On Mon, Oct 26, 2026 at 8:55 PM 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
