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Offline doak

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Birds
« on: May 20, 2007, 10:19:26 pm »
Anyone having trouble with birds getting their bees?
How do I stop it? I tried a rubber snake in the water trough. They don't pay it any attention.
doak

Offline Michael Bush

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Re: Birds
« Reply #1 on: May 20, 2007, 10:31:01 pm »
I have not had trouble with birds.
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Offline Understudy

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Re: Birds
« Reply #2 on: May 20, 2007, 10:33:46 pm »
I have a few small problems with birds. not enough to really warrant any action but every now and then I will catch a bird going after the free buffet he sees. I tend to look at it as nature in action. I have a bigger problem with spiders. The spiders set up webs on the final approach path. I must be the only person who has spiders that need Jenny Craig.

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Brendhan
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Offline doak

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Re: Birds
« Reply #3 on: May 21, 2007, 12:57:23 am »
These birds come right to the entrance.
The spiders don't have a chance, I have my colonies in my back yard and I take what I call "the bee walk" 3 or 4 times a day. I also carry a stick, to rake anything off the landing deck that doesn't belong there.
doak

Offline abejaruco

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Re: Birds
« Reply #4 on: May 21, 2007, 02:06:26 am »
I have swallows, in the hives located near populated areas, and "bee eaters" everywhere.  I can´t kill them. I have increased the number of hives.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Bee-eater

Offline Mici

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Re: Birds
« Reply #5 on: May 21, 2007, 06:08:51 am »
i have swallows too, but i think they don't pick too many bees, there's plenty of other insects, but anyway, swallows are good
but sparrows...oh dear, they come by in the afternoon, round two to three o'clock and they're just pickin' those bees up! loads and loads of bees, but from my observations, i'm almost sure they're picking up only drones, most of which can't fly. but, sparrows eat only grains and stuff, so i'm pretty sure this is for the young ones.
i think shooting with an airgun only in their proximity would get them away for a longer period of time but hell..let them pick those drones.

Offline doak

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Re: Birds
« Reply #6 on: May 21, 2007, 01:03:23 pm »
Red birds and brown thrashers. I can't tell what they are catching. They come when the bees are doing their orientation flights.
doak

Offline RiceLake

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Re: Birds
« Reply #7 on: May 21, 2007, 10:27:25 pm »
Last year we had a bird problem also.
I put up an owl decoy on top of a post beside the hives. It seems to have worked.
We did not see any birds catching bees at the hives anymore.



Offline doak

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Re: Birds
« Reply #8 on: May 23, 2007, 11:58:57 pm »
I couldn't findany string to hang the owls yesterday so I set them on a cement block.
noticed the one bird would come up on the blind side and creep around the hive. Grab a bee and scoot.
This afternoon I found some string and got the owls  "just-a-swining" from a limb. they are above the tallest hive now. It was late but I didn't see any birds up close to the hives.
I'll keep y'all posted.
doak

Offline Cindi

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Re: Birds
« Reply #9 on: May 24, 2007, 01:42:47 am »
Doak.  Good.  I think it is dreadful that any bees should be lost to predators, there are so many more insects that we could certainly be rid of, leave our bees alone.  Great day, Cindi
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Offline BEE C

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Re: Birds
« Reply #10 on: May 24, 2007, 02:48:20 am »
Put up owl roosting boxes and lure those sweet little killers to roost in your yard...worked for me.  I noticed out of the corner of my eye today there is a bald eagle at the tree tops.  The birds just melted away into the forest.

Offline Cindi

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Re: Birds
« Reply #11 on: May 24, 2007, 09:55:30 am »
Bee C, nice picture, looks like the owl was blinking (LOL).  Did you you some kind of night shot camera or just a camera with flash?  He looks dazzled.  You will have to tell about how many roosting boxes you have at your place.  Have a wonderful day, great life, good health.  Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline Understudy

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Re: Birds
« Reply #12 on: May 24, 2007, 11:15:01 pm »



Sorry, it couldn't be helped.

 :-D


Sincerely,
Brendhan
The status is not quo. The world is a mess and I just need to rule it. Dr. Horrible

Offline Brian D. Bray

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Re: Birds
« Reply #13 on: May 25, 2007, 12:44:18 am »
Preditory birds are a major problem for me.  I had a sharpshin hawk who decided he liked pigeon, racing pigeons to be exact.  Got to the point I was down to 4 birds.  Then the hawk decided to follow the pigeons through the traps and into the loft where it dinned on 2 more.  I was down to my last pair.  The Hawk, BTW, is no longer a nuance to my neighborhood.  I am now slowly building my bird population back up--have 5 now. 
Just had a banty hen hatch the only egg she was sitting one but I don't want to loose the chick to hawks.

In my area we have Bald eagles, Ospreys, Goshawks, Pereguin falcons, sharpshins, Red Tailed hawks, Sparrow hawks (which prey on bees and flying insects), Coopers hawks, several other variety of hawks as well as vultures, and several types of owls.  I can hardly go outside without seeing a bird of prey.

The only birds that dine on the flying bees are the Sparrow hawks and once in awhile the barn swallows.  The swallows, most of the time, fly near the water retention pond for the development next door scooping up misquitoes.  Since I'm the only one in the neighborhood who still has a barn I get to host the swallows.

I must admit thought that the crows and ravens do a fairly good job of harassing and keeping the larger birds of prey far enough away that they don't bother my birds too much.
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Offline doak

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Re: Birds
« Reply #14 on: May 25, 2007, 01:03:33 am »
Brain D. Bray,
I have just about everything you named, except the bald Eagle. They're down the road about 12 miles. I do have Golden Eagles.
The guys messing with my bees is red bird and the Brown Thrasher, our "STATE BIRD".
The resin owls are not keeping them out. One day was all it took for them to find they're not the real thing.
I'm not going to loose any sleep over it.
May try my critter gitter and see if that works. Or some red ribbon. Don't want to use blue or white
doak

Offline Mici

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Re: Birds
« Reply #15 on: May 31, 2007, 09:54:34 am »
ok..they've crossed the line. saw a bird more than 2 times standing on the entrance. time for airgun!

Offline MarkF

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Re: Birds
« Reply #16 on: April 24, 2008, 08:04:06 pm »
Someone needs to make an Owl decoy with a bobble head that the wind will move, the movement will keep the birds from figuring out it not real. I think it would work much better than a fixed statue.
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Offline annette

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Re: Birds
« Reply #17 on: April 25, 2008, 12:10:13 am »
I believe Home Depot has something like that.

Offline Bochekokik

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Re: Birds
« Reply #18 on: January 25, 2009, 08:19:43 am »
Folks, Sorry if I have to revive this thread.
We have problems with birds feasting on the bees especially during foraging. Several suggestions were made, some were possible to do, some were illegal to do. The birds Im refering to is the Philippine swift (black with white streak thru the body). When the birds attack, the colony size drops, mostly the nurse bees are left.
Here are some of the thing that was done
1. Use a gun to shoot the birds -> cannot be done. There is a subdivision beside our place and the action of shooting those birds would give me a one way ticket to jail
2. Use a decoy -> wont work for far foraging areas. And the birds seems smart enough to know after a couple of days that it is only a decoy and they again continue feasting.
3. Use the real live predatory bird like eagles and owls-> sad to say these predatory birds are already on the endangered species list. Local laws will not allow us to keep or use these birds. These predatory birds are confined only to restricted wildlife areas.

Some folks suggest that we use poision, but as much as possible we want to search for an environmentally friendly way to controlling those birds. Appreciate if anybody can give additional suggestions.

Thanks in advance

Offline Irwin

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Re: Birds
« Reply #19 on: January 25, 2009, 09:16:47 am »
Folks, Sorry if I have to revive this thread.
We have problems with birds feasting on the bees especially during foraging. Several suggestions were made, some were possible to do, some were illegal to do. The birds Im refering to is the Philippine swift (black with white streak thru the body). When the birds attack, the colony size drops, mostly the nurse bees are left.
Here are some of the thing that was done
1. Use a gun to shoot the birds -> cannot be done. There is a subdivision beside our place and the action of shooting those birds would give me a one way ticket to jail
2. Use a decoy -> wont work for far foraging areas. And the birds seems smart enough to know after a couple of days that it is only a decoy and they again continue feasting.
3. Use the real live predatory bird like eagles and owls-> sad to say these predatory birds are already on the endangered species list. Local laws will not allow us to keep or use these birds. These predatory birds are confined only to restricted wildlife areas.

Some folks suggest that we use poision, but as much as possible we want to search for an environmentally friendly way to controlling those birds. Appreciate if anybody can give additional suggestions.

Thanks in advance
What about a air gun they are quiet that's what I use
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