A petition for Walmart and dyed hummer food

[Jen]

I don't know how deep I want to go into this, but I would like to take on the task of dealing with Walmart on not selling dyed hummer food. I don't care if it's just sugar water/syrup. Just keep the dye out of it.

But who can resist a gallon jug of red dyed food for $2?

I have pictures of my frames with red hummer food stored in them, so that's proof. I would like to state that red dyed honey is not consumable, is bad food for our bees, and that beekeepers cannot sell red honey with a good conscience. Not to mention that it's crap food for hummers as well.

I'm fully aware that other large corporations like this may sell the same product, so this could go into a long search of what company or companies are producing this product.

Is it possible to make a legal petition from a forum? Probably not. How would I go about getting a petition started with beekeeper signatures? that could take a lot of time.

[Lburou]

Good luck Jen, but, we can depend on retailers to sell what people want. 

[Bakersdozen]

Bee guards on hummer feeders are part of the answer.  But bee guards fall off easily when attacked by aggressive birds or the weather.  The hummer feeders are just too tempting for bees.  I had to quit hanging my hummingbird feeder because other birds would knock off those bee guards off.

[lazy shooter]

I would think hummingbird feeders to be small caca compared to poor agricultural procedures for crop spraying and the shoddy use of pesticides by home owners.  I have a hard time believing the stories I read about how home owners use illegal toxins and use legal toxins in illegal procedures. 

[Jen]

Baker, I remember you telling me about bee guards    But it's not my hummer feeders it's all the other feeders in the vacinity grrrrrr

[iddee]

If not for the red color, you would be extracting and selling sugar water honey. It's a good sign your honey isn't natural. Being just red food coloring, I think it is good that it is in there. Maybe all beeks should add a little red color to their sugar water so they know what they are harvesting.

[riverbee]

jen, you are going to be fighting an uphill battle, and many retailers sell this stuff.  i am with iddee, the red let's us know it's in the hives.....lesser of two evils.  we feed sugar syrup similar to the mix in hummer food, good to know the hummer food is in there with the red color in it.....also, folks that feed hummers are not going to stop feeding hummingbirds.  i use sugar syrup to feed hummers, many do instead of the mix, i don't color it.  what would you rather have?
we can't stop the bees from visiting a hummer feeder in dearths, and we can't stop folks from feeding the hummers.......just a thought for you....