Woodpecker Armageddon

[Chris B]

Visited a distant out-apiary yesterday, home to 32 colonies in polys. Well now most of them are now perforated polys, patched up with foam and duct tape. Most holes in the hand holds as usual. Woodpeckers have caught me out badly all over the place this winter. Just got an email from RSPB too. Can I do their Great Garden Birdwatch this weekend. You bet! I'll be inviting my mate Mr Browning, and he might even bring his mates Mr Smith and Mr Wesson. They love birdwatching.

But seriously, has anyone got any tips for poly fixes? I know swienty sell repair kits, but I suspect they aren't economical.

The good news is all the bees look good, albeit a bit of candy needed for a few.

 

[Hivemaker.]

I believe the polyurathane glue is supposed to be quite good for repairing holes in poly hives,cures with moisture and can be shaped when cured,depends on the size of holes i would imagine,but some scrap box's could be used to cut patches from,then glued in,bit like a dutchman.

If your having a kind of beaters day, can i come along with my spaniel, and mr Holland & Holland and his partner miss Purdey...lol.

 

[oliver90owner]

Chris B,

Can Jimmy Purdy and and Wynne Chester come too? I can bring along B Retta . Must be a few others, too.

We could have

Regards, RAB

 

[Haughton Honey]

Once upon a time I could have supplied you with a 120mm self-levelling L30A1 cannon.......attached to a Challenger tank. But not now, sadly.

Might have been slight overkill though!

 

[keith pierce]

dont leave me out of a good weekend end. i can gring along mr lincon and for long range mrs sako

 

[freethorpe bees]

My you lot are in a feisty mood today!:Chevy_anim:

 

[TOBY-3652]

Can i bring mr franchi and mr cooey seriously im glad i dont suffer with mr woody

 

[Hombre]

Yes, Expanding foam filler.

Are you in around mid-day Saturday (after the orch . . . at the school off Old Station Rd?)

You will require a specimen box with a big hole, grease proof paper and a couple of bits of plywood somewhat larger than the hole and of course the inevitable cup of tea. A lick of emulsion to finish the job will probably be wise as the foam isn't as dense as the boxes. It can be cut and sanded to finish it off.

PU glue will fill gaps in joints and fix broken boxes, but not holes such as those witnessed.

I'll put the sticky stuff in the car with the machine gun case.

Best done as a batch as the feed tube goes solid - so not only a rhubarb juice problem eh?

 

[abb]

i can bring mr Klash!!!!

 

[fatshark]

For one-off patches I've had success with fixing things in place with hot glue. Shape a replacement 'plug' to fit the hole, prepare some poly 'dust' (all the little bits that are generated by sawing low quality poly), and then build up the filling with a mix of glue and poly dust holding the plug in place.

Undoubtedly a less satisfactory solution to that offered by Hombre, but for a quick fix of a simple hole it works fine.

--
fatshark

 

[Chris B]

Kids doing the Great Garden Birdwatch as we speak. Already a false alarm in the first 5 minutes with a Jay. I'm a bit more philosophical about it today. What I think I really need is an online "Woodie shoot" game to let off steam after such incidents.
(I can thoroughly recommend Clay Kitten shooting for anyone with cat problems. Very therapeutic. http://www.richsalter.btinternet.co.uk/)

Thanks for the patch suggestions. I've got a couple of days work ahead of me once I can get the boxes out of circulation.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Chris, what would you usually do to protect poly hives from woody woodpecker, and do they get damaged more easily than cedar?

 

[Chris B]

Chris, what would you usually do to protect poly hives from woody woodpecker, and do they get damaged more easily than cedar?

Hi,
well until this year I've only had woodpecker problems in 1 single apiary and so now I just empty that apiary at the end of season. Unfortunately over the last 6 weeks I've had woodpeckers in about 6 other apiaries. Hives were all unprotected. My logic being a little damage is probably less aggro than putting nets over everything. But I think I'll take a different approach now. Big fishing nets or fruit cage nets are probably the answer but not yet got that far.
Yes they do seem easy to damage. I've never witnessed them in the act though. At least the polys still seem to give plenty of bee protection even with gaping holes.

 

[Poly Hive]

Were these swienty poly hoves as I have never come across w/pecker damage before?

PH

 

[freethorpe bees]

Kids doing the Great Garden Birdwatch as we speak. Already a false alarm in the first 5 minutes with a Jay. I'm a bit more philosophical about it today. What I think I really need is an online "Woodie shoot" game to let off steam after such incidents.
(I can thoroughly recommend Clay Kitten shooting for anyone with cat problems. Very therapeutic. http://www.richsalter.btinternet.co.uk/)

Thanks for the patch suggestions. I've got a couple of days work ahead of me once I can get the boxes out of circulation.

Good game Chris! I pretended they were Siamese ...(don't ask, it starts my blood boiling!)

 

[Chris B]

Were these swienty poly hoves as I have never come across w/pecker damage before?

PH

Yes they are. I'll get some photos if you're interested.

 

[Poly Hive]

Yes please.

This is disturbing though as I believed, and now proven wrong (yet again LOL) that polys were pretty much immune to peckers as I was told the birds dinna like the feel of the material.

Ho hum...

PH

 

[oliver90owner]

You were probably swanning around on holiday and missed this.

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=8152&highlight=woodpecker+damage

Didn't suppose for one moment that sweinty would be any better or worse than other polyhives.

RAB

 

[RoofTops]

I think as a generalisation poly and wood hives are equally vulnerable to a determined woodpecker. A couple of my poly hives had a bit of damage over the winter - a few dozen beak shaped holes - but they did not actually penetrate the hives, which look as if someone has taken a pot shot at them from a distance with a shot gun.

This is the first time I have had woodpecker damage and I suspect the cold spell before Christmas may have played a part. We also saw a moorhen in the garden for the first time this winter - there must have been slim pickings at its ususal haunts so the ground under our bird feeders became more attractive.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Woodpeckers seem to be attacking quite a few poly hives this winter,as we have had several posts/pictures put up of them with woodpecker damage,usually around the handholds.