Birds eating my bees.

[Webby]

Hi, I've noticed a lot of smallish bird poo out on the entrance board of my hive and some on the slab in front. Clearly bee remains in the poo. Any ideas what birds do this and if I should net it or something??

 

[justsmith]

The birds which come around my hives are normal just after the ones which are dying or dead on the ground around it.

 

[Webby]

The birds which come around my hives are normal just after the ones which are dying or dead on the ground around it.

Not after the ones at the entrance?

 

[chrisb]

they always clear my dead ones up, saves me a job

 

[Millet]

The only remains i have ever seen in bird poop are hard seeds, to this day i have never ever seen insect remains, there stomach acid is good at dissolving food.
Could you just be seeing old bees and bits of bees that have been dragged out and conveniently dropped among the bird poop.

 

[chrisb]

im with Millet
i see them picking them up late afternoon but never any bits in the poop they leave while doing it

 

[Gilberdyke John]

The only remains i have ever seen in bird poop are hard seeds, to this day i have never ever seen insect remains, there stomach acid is good at dissolving food.
Could you just be seeing old bees and bits of bees that have been dragged out and conveniently dropped among the bird poop.

Don't birds grind up their food along with grit in the gizzard? Only minute stuff would survive that treatment

 

[Erichalfbee]

Or be barfed up as a pellet?
Have you noticed any significant reduction in bee numbers?
I recommend a trail cam to catch the culprit.
Then you can plan your "get rid" strategy

 

[Swarm]

We've no birds you need worry about, **** will take some at the hive and I've watched House Sparrows picking off foragers and Swallows over my apiary. All part of the wonderful whole

 

[maddydog]

Have only ever seen garden birds mopping up the dead and dying near the entrance, I'd be surprised if it had any effect whatsoever.
Maybe change your avatar to 'keep calm and love wildlife'

 

[Webby]

Yeah maybe it's just bits of old bees etc. Think they're having a clear out as my new queen has been so busy. I do love wildlife. Got plenty here.

 

[BeeJayBee]

The bird population on our garden has benefitted from our bees, we now have more robins, great **** and blackbirds than we had before keeping bees. We've seen them catch bees in flight and pick up dead ones from beneath the hives, but the bees don't seem to attack so obviously aren't too worried.

I'm hoping the birds might be a help if and when the Asian Hornet eventually arrives, but I don't know if there's any evidence of them being eaten by birds.

 

[blackie]

Probably a bit of chalk brood been cleared out looks like dry poo ?

 

[Webby]

Probably a bit of chalk brood been cleared out looks like dry poo ?

You could be right Blackie.

 

[philipm]

Plenty of swallows and other birds here they take a few bees but I don't think it makes much difference to the colonies.Barn owls quite often use the hives as a perch they leave an owl pellet behind just to let me know they were there.

 

[annalim2008]

Surprisingly, various birds with a technique that can catch bees consume them regularly. For instance, Bee-eaters and some Tanagers enjoy eating adult bees, which make up 60 – 70% of their diet.

 

[Nige.Coll]

Swifts and swallows cause me considerable problems eating queens.
It's nature, that's what happens, everything has to eat.

 

[Brian Bush]

I watched a colony of swallows take a queen returning from mating at a colleagues apiary on her farm. I would love to see more swallows around but I wish they would ignore the queens.

 

[Erichalfbee]

One of our ex members got into trouble on Facebook after he admitted he shut his barn doors for a few days, where the swallows were nesting, while he got his queens mated

 

[Ely]

It's fascinating watching the dragonflies chase the bees around where I am