Long tailed tit

[Polyanwood]

A long tailed tit has started landing on my hives picking off any sickly or slow bees. Won't she get stung? I think she is doing some disease control for me.

 

[jimbeekeeper]

Tit (snigger)

Back to reality! I saw some birds (could not tell you what type they where) sat in a flowering plum which is currently buzzing during the day with bees.

I am sure the birds where after the bees.

 

[BKF Admin]

Its no good we are going to have to implement a Bin

 

[jean]

Tits eat bees, but the number of bees eaten doesn't damage the colony. The worst is the great tit, which can harm a colony but not by overeating. It taps on the hive in winter and makes the bees come out,and it's the disturbance that does the harm.They won't normally bother when they have other food sources, so I guess in polyanwood's case they're just picking off the stragglers.

 

[MJBee]

In another life when I was still using a WBC hive I failed to notice that a cone bee escape in the roof was missing. A pair of bluetits took advantage of the roof space and built a nest on the crown board!!
The bees totally ignored them and they didn't desert despite weekly inspections and managed to rear and fledge 6 youngsters. Des Res with underfloor heating
Mike