BB you sound like a city boy :-)
i look at my bees as any other livestock on the place. if something threatens them, it needs to go. I'd rather not kill things, but the well placed shot is often the solution. 4 or 5 swallows in the spring i can live with. a re-enactment of The Birds, which is what has been going on here, is another thing.
you'll be pleased to know that yesterday only 1/2 a dozen showed up, so it looks like they are moving on.....however, if it's a choice between swallows and my bees, the swallows lose.
I think you are very confused. City folks are just like you. Kill everything, and try to live in a sterile environment. I am the opposite.
I deal with folks all the time. Kill the bees. Kill the birds. Kill the wildlife coming into the manicured lawns and properties, filled with flowers and edibles. I actually have discussion with homeowners who plant flowers and then complain about bees visiting their property. You propogate a food source, then I suppose kill anything that happens to want to eat them. Bees are not harming the flowers, just as the birds did not harm your hives by taking a few bees, then moving on.
And yes, beekeepers are just like the pool owner. Or the over hyped parents that feel the need to "protect their children" from the hordes of honey bees on their property visiting the clover in the yard.
I am just comparing the homeowner that puts out laced syrup to rid their property of the honey bees, and comparing that to the beekeeper who wants to rid themselves of anything and everything that might be detrimental to their bees.
Not sure why the comparison to city folks. I don't live in the city. But I am good at seeing hypocrisy.
I say more power to the property owners trying to rid themselves of honey bees across the country. I say poison them all. Kill any animal crossing onto your property.
Is that what you want to hear? If I am to support your view of killing every animal that may be perceived as a threat to your bees, then I would certainly hope you back and support homeowners who want nuisance bees visiting pools and their flowers, and perhaps being stepped on by children, completely banned from existing. Homeowners should have the right to kill your bees, as easy as you have the right to kill birds venturing on your property.
There...I support your position.
Shoot away!
