Two observations that I noticed with me bees recently.
1) As I was watching the bees go about their business, I watched a bee fly into the hive entrance carrying an earthworm. I wasn't quick enough to get a picture. Was wondering if any on the forum had seen this behaviour?
2) Also, one morning, I saw a pair of chipping sparrows hanging out by the hive. Looked like they were chasing down the bees. Again, anyone seen this before?
Thanks in advance.
2 dogs
1.) odd, never, can not answer you
2.) shoot the sparrows, chase the sparrows, kill the sparrows, anything to get them away! they got 2 of my hives real bad, now...i've shot at least a dozen of them (i know it's not nice, but there's no other way) bees can forage in peace, they ate all the bees that were hanging at the entrance-bearding.
do something and do it fast!
>1) As I was watching the bees go about their business, I watched a bee fly into the hive entrance carrying an earthworm.
Surely you are mistaken. I have not seen nor heard of such behavior. Now I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them haul a larvae OUT of the hive...
hmmm yeah that makes sense. and if you've been watching them before, you've seen how they pass cappings from one to another sometimes and just don't fly away with them so..one intendet to remove the larvae, and then they had it on the landing board, and afterwards, one of them decided to take it back inl
Mici, for many of us, it is illegal to kill wild birds here in America. There are laws protecting them and there are also, for those of us who live in more populated areas, laws against firing firearms within so many feet of a residence.
so..nothing different than here...
airrifle...
and you hope nobody's gonna tell.
Uh, uh. If you need to protect your bees, figure out what is more important. Bees? Honey? Birds that eat everything all up, including bees? My choice. Bees. Air rifles, yep. Have a wonderful day, protect your bees. Cindi
now...don't get me wrong, i don't shoot just every bird that comes by, on the contrary. i let the birds be, they were picking up some drones, dead bees and stuff, it was even fun to watch. but when all of a sudden half of the bees were gone, it stopped being fun.
The Migratory Species Act protects MOST birds. However ther are exceptions. House Sparrows, Starlings, and feral Pigeons for example are not protected, but may be under local or State laws.
Sparrow traps can be found at many garden stores and are easy to make for the DIY'er.
quail, pheasant, woodcock....
How about doing some research on the sparrows to see what their favorite food is besides your bees ? And then, see if you can offer that to them. The birds are just being birds, you brought the bees into their environment, why kill them ? I would feel bad. :(
I have been around pigeons for years--I have never seen one eat an insect, let alone a worm. Pigeons are basically grain and berry feeders. They will strip an elderberry tree of its fruit, and flock to a ripe wheat field but they will not eat your bees.
Sparrows, Thrushes, and Starlings, however, eat what they can find, worms, fruit berries, seeds, insects, etc. I don't even worry about the swallows, they mostly spend their time flying over the water retention pond from the neighborhood next door eating the misquitoes that hatch out of the stagnant water.
i find sparrows the most disturbing.
other birds that eat bees are either much more beautiful and more importantly, they don't come in flocks like sparrows. i'm telling you, i saw ONE (1) sparrow in front of the hives, aimed my rifle, shot and at least 20 flew out of no-where, but they were there...
sparrows are too said to be grain eaters, and i think the whole bee things is...it's an easy pray, plus their youngs need the proteins