Does anyone else have a problem with birds?

[meidel]

We've had our suspicions for a while now that the family of magpies living in the nearby woods come down to the apiary and help themselves to our bees. We've seen them scatter off and fly away when we've approached the bees.

Yesterday I lurked in a corner outside and saw two of them hop up to one of the hives and take a bee on the wing! So clearly our bird of prey wasn't working and desperate measures were called for. This was what we did in the apiary yesterday evening

 

[Magners Bee]

Clever.

We also have magpies but haven't seen them active around the hives. Our stands are about 55cm which seem slightly taller than yours. And we have grown wild flowers around the hives so that birds couldn't land on the ground except at the back where we stand.

we are about to use chicken wire to protect the hives from woodpeckers.

 

[Andy Duff]

taking the mouse guards off will help. the bees can fly out, rather than crawling out to pe picked off one at a time.

 

[meidel]

I don't think it has anything to do with the entrance reducers or mouseguards as the hive they were seen picking on has nothing, just a wide gaping entrance, and the other has a medium size entrance, the hive and entrance block being from cadd*n

 

[meidel]

Clever.

We also have magpies but haven't seen them active around the hives. Our stands are about 55cm which seem slightly taller than yours. And we have grown wild flowers around the hives so that birds couldn't land on the ground except at the back where we stand.

we are about to use chicken wire to protect the hives from woodpeckers.

I like your idea of growing wild flowers around the hive - we've got little oases of thyme and lavender beds dotted about the apiary but not really close to the hives. The taller stands would also be an idea for the taller beeks amongst us!

 

[Luminos]

I have a shrew which lurks next to where my bees like to drink. Every now and then it pops out, grabs a bee and chomps away...

 

[Teemore]

I see a fair few birds around my 'home' stocks - a mix of Magpies, Finches, Great Tits, Blue Tits and Sparrows. Some scavenge dead, dying or resting bees, and some, particularly the Chaffinches, will pick returning bees out of the air.
We also have a resident hedgehog in the garden who does the nightly rounds of the hives and is doing a grand job of reducing the resident slug population!

 

[the beehive lodge]

just make sure you dont stand on them. Good job,I wonder if it would work with the BL**DY slugs that are a pain is it me or are they becoming a pest for others

 

[ratcatcher]

just make sure you dont stand on them. Good job,I wonder if it would work with the BL**DY slugs that are a pain is it me or are they becoming a pest for others

BEER TRAPS, solve that problem, our garden seems to attract them by the bucket load, but at least they succumb to the beer

as for magpies, plastic bird of prey decoys soon loose their scaring use, as maggies tend to mob them and quickly figure out they aint real,
what you need is a larson trap, perfectly legal to use/trap and dispatch, as maggies tend to keep in family groups, they will only increase in size of colony, and although the spikes are a good idea, they will soon figure a way round them

 

[meidel]

oh my - what shall i do with all those trapped maggies??

 

[mbc]

oh my - what shall i do with all those trapped maggies??

The traps are more effective if baited with a foreign bird so there is a ready trade (usually no money changes hands) in birds from other areas to bait new traps.
Sluggs have totally slimed some of my mini nucs placed on the ground this year, orrible creatures !

 

[Foxylad]

It is true these traps are perfectly legal.

I iss illegal to set a larsen trap without a general license.

 

[nosmoking]

.22 should work attached to, a air rifle.

 

[ratcatcher]

It is true these traps are perfectly legal.

I iss illegal to set a larsen trap without a general license.

the general license is not printed on a bit of paper that you carry around so you can say, Ive got my general license

the general license is just there for everyone, to inform what you can or cant do
granted its good to have another magpie from out of the area as a call bird to attract magpies in (very territorial) but Ive had just as much success using eggs and bread


once caught you knock them on the head

 

[Mellifera397]

I dont know much about those traps but I know that magpies like the other corvids can figure out most problems that they face so I should imagine killing them is the only option even though it is a shame

 

[Foxylad]

the general license is not printed on a bit of paper that you carry around so you can say, Ive got my general license

the general license is just there for everyone, to inform what you can or cant do
granted its good to have another magpie from out of the area as a call bird to attract magpies in (very territorial) but Ive had just as much success using eggs and bread


once caught you knock them on the head

I was pointing out that setting a larsen, to trap magpies taking insects, would be a breach of the licence.

Im sure it could be argued that your protecting livestock but it seems a little extreme.

How many bees could a magpie potentially take? Im sure in the scheme of a full hive it would be insignificant.

Im sure most people could not "knock it over the head" even if there life depended on it.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I should imagine killing them is the only option

yup - you are obliged to - it is illegal to release them live from any trap. I find my friend Mr Eley does the trick (in either .410 or .22 - the others are a bit too loud!)

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

I have a shrew which lurks next to where my bees like to drink. Every now and then it pops out, grabs a bee and chomps away...

Aahh!

You've got to admire the timing of the shrew.

But it's no great shakes, peering out at the bees.

Dusty

 

[Luminos]

Aahh!

You've got to admire the timing of the shrew.

But it's no great shakes, peering out at the bees.

Dusty

 

[Erichalfbee]

The sky over the Apiary is pretty busy with Kites. Nothing much seems to fly underneath them.