Feeding/attracting wildlife near hive

[BernardBlack]

Thinking of providing some shelter/food etc for some wild birds and animals on my patch of land. Houses/food for birds, bats, squirrels etc...they're already about anyway I've noticed. However, I'm worried in case deliberately providing food/houses for them that it may affect my hive and bee numbers.

Is there anything I should worry about? And how far should I position food/shelter from my hive?

 

[REDWOOD]

If you feed birds you need to continue to do so


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[Gilberdyke John]

Thinking of providing some shelter/food etc for some wild birds and animals on my patch of land. Houses/food for birds, bats, squirrels etc...they're already about anyway I've noticed. However, I'm worried in case deliberately providing food/houses for them that it may affect my hive and bee numbers.

Is there anything I should worry about? And how far should I position food/shelter from my hive?

You mention one hive. How long do you think that will be correct?

 

[BernardBlack]

You mention one hive. How long do you think that will be correct?

Will stick with one for 2017. If things go well, I might add another the following year. But plan to have no more than 2 or 3 really.

 

[madasafish]

Bees feed birds in the bee season: with dead bees. Quite amusing to watch..

Beware of green woodpeckers - they will eat brood and destroy hives..

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Will stick with one for 2017. If things go well, I might add another the following year. But plan to have no more than 2 or 3 really.

I admire your optimism

 

[Millet]

I'm into my second winter with one hive i wanted two but on two occasions the Queen cells failed to hatch.
Anyway as for helping wildlife put some feeders up and feed good quality no mess wild bird seed with added suet pellets and fat balls, DO NOT use the fat balls in the green netting as birds can become trapped in the netting and die slowly hanging upside down, put the balls in a dedicated feeder, nut feeders are also liked ,(as stated previously once you start feeding don't stop), also make sure there's fresh water near by.
Build a log pile to help Newts/Toads and Frog's, build a load of nest boxes (google the hole size for different birds) , build some bat nest boxes google again is your friend.
Unless the Squirrels are Red Squirrels i would be shooting them Not wasting food on them.
The only down side to feeding is you may attract mice and rats so you will have to protect your hive from them and the same goes for green woodpeckers if they are in your area.
I find it pretty rewarding doing my little bit like most of the above, good luck.

 

[Erichalfbee]

If you leave a few bits of corrugated sheeting tucked under the hedges snakes like to hide there. When we top our field in the spring the grass gets piled up in one corner and the grass snakes and slow worms lay their eggs there. Then we don't cut it till late September so that all the wild flowers can bloom for the bees and butterflies and set seed for the birds. We have sown rattle to deal with the vigorous grasses and now we have lots of wildflowers and we have encouraged white clover in the areas where we keep the grass short.

 

[Webby]

I wouldn't encourage squirrels, bl**dy things. They rob birds nests of eggs and or chicks.

 

[BernardBlack]

If you leave a few bits of corrugated sheeting tucked under the hedges snakes like to hide there. When we top our field in the spring the grass gets piled up in one corner and the grass snakes and slow worms lay their eggs there. Then we don't cut it till late September so that all the wild flowers can bloom for the bees and butterflies and set seed for the birds. We have sown rattle to deal with the vigorous grasses and now we have lots of wildflowers and we have encouraged white clover in the areas where we keep the grass short.

Thanks to St Patrick, we don't have any snakes here in Ireland

Spotted a couple squirrels lately. Didn't get a good look at them but think they were greys. Although I have spotted one or two reds in the past.

 

[Hivemaker.]

I wouldn't encourage squirrels, bl**dy things. They rob birds nests of eggs and or chicks.

So do lots of other creatures, Jays, magpies, hedgehogs, woodpeckers, badgers, weasels, stoats, etc.
So do cats, but no one would be putting out food for them as in this thread.

 

[B+.]

So do lots of other creatures, Jays, magpies, hedgehogs, woodpeckers, badgers, weasels, stoats, etc.
So do cats, but no one would be putting out food for them as in this thread.

According to the RSPB, the green woodpecker only eats ants.....so thats alright then (NOT!)
They will decimate a colony of bees and make a nasty mess of the hive too

 

[Millet]

According to the RSPB, the green woodpecker only eats ants.....so thats alright then (NOT!)
They will decimate a colony of bees and make a nasty mess of the hive too

Great Spotted woodpeckers eat young birds out of the nest, Nuthatch and Tit nesting boxes need metal putting around the hole as the peckers destroy the boxes to get at the young.

 

[Erichalfbee]

We put our nest boxes in a wire cage. I've seen woodies go through the side of a box

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Great Spotted woodpeckers eat young birds out of the nest, Nuthatch and Tit nesting boxes need metal putting around the hole as the peckers destroy the boxes to get at the young.

Nature - red in tooth and claw

 

[Millet]

We put our nest boxes in a wire cage. I've seen woodies go through the side of a box

True Erica but the mesh looks untidy anything is better than them eating the nestlings though.

 

[enrico]

Bat box's are a haven for wasps. Check them regularly for wasps nests during the summer. I had hundreds of bats in my roof but nine ever used the box's I put up!!!!
E

 

[Millet]

Bat box's are a haven for wasps. Check them regularly for wasps nests during the summer. I had hundreds of bats in my roof but nine ever used the box's I put up!!!!
E

They obviously have better accommodation in your roof which must be a big roof if you have hundreds , don't let that put people of for trying though, if the bat boxes are in place they have the option to use them, and the same goes for bird boxes.

 

[bontbee]

Not sure from your post if you're referring to garden or "land" but, whichever it is, as a good rule of thumb, don't "tidy" everything. As a nation we seem to have been brainwashed into thinking that every blade of grass must be trimmed to within an inch of its life, every weed must be grubbed up (often to be replaced with a less useful cultivated plant). "Untidiness" will almost always support more wildlife than an immaculate lawn and borders or mown "townie-field", (thinking of a tangent on another recent thread). When I look at scrubby, brambly or weedy areas I see a food source, living space and refuge.

(Before I'm shot down for too gross a generalisation, there are very valuable areas of mown grassland too!!! For most areas, it's as well to remember that there's no high rise accommodation or restaurants on a closely mown sward!)

 

[theeggman]

We had Greater Spotted attacking a "tit" box last year, holes in the side etc.
The residents were bumbles that were a PitA just outside a shed door and when we opened the door we'd have 100's of bumbles being a pain, we lived with it but the woody cured the problem.

We still had bumbles on flowers up to a few days ago so the nest 'woody'd' hasn't cut the numbers, sit back and watch nature sort itself out.

We've been here 19 yr's. and for 17 yr's we saw NO hedgehogs, but we did have a badger sett on our ground. I MUST add that we kept 'free range layers' and at NO time did we have a conflict between brock and our birds, they were closed up for the night before brock came out, he/they just dug under our fences to let the fox in by day. This year we've had h'hogs "bl***y" everywhere,
6 bab's on the lawn at once one evening.