Woodpecker protection - when can I take it off?

[HelenHP16]

I had to put some wire netting around my hive pretty smartish before Christmas as our green woodpecker found it and tried (unsuccessfully) to get himself some lunch. As I'm not going in to the hive at the moment it is not a problem but in a few weeks we are going to start thinking about opening. At what point do the woodpeckers stop bothering the hive or is the netting something I'm going to have to live with year round

 

[MuswellMetro]

I had to put some wire netting around my hive pretty smartish before Christmas as our green woodpecker found it and tried (unsuccessfully) to get himself some lunch. As I'm not going in to the hive at the moment it is not a problem but in a few weeks we are going to start thinking about opening. At what point do the woodpeckers stop bothering the hive or is the netting something I'm going to have to live with year round

they attack normal after a severe frost when the ground is frozen , we take ours off in march as they have other sources of food

 

[drstitson]

remove when you need to start regular inspections (ie not the quick late feb peek that many recommend).

 

[HelenHP16]

Thank you both - very happy to hear it is not going to have to be a permanent feature

 

[masterBK]

Green woodpeckers only attack beehives when the ground is frozen preventing them getting Ants "their favourite food" from the ant nests. When danger of frost is over problem goes away til next year. If you drape strawberry netting over several hives it can be put on and taken off in seconds (suitably weighed down with bricks) and just as effective as wire netting and alot cheaper.