What birds eat wasps? How to properly protect an apiary from numerous enemies

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- an insectivorous bird with beautiful plumage, slightly larger than a starling. It lives in colonies, digging burrows in the ground, usually on steep slopes of rivers and ravines. When flying away at the end of the season, it seals the nest with a clay plug and returns to the same place next year. This bird is distributed mainly in the southeastern regions, as well as along the Volga and Dnieper, in the Crimea and the Caucasus.

This is the most dangerous bird for beekeeping, since its diet consists of 80 - 90% bees. One individual can eat 700 - 1000 bees per day, which it catches well on the fly, but also in a field or apiary. In an area of ​​intensive beekeeping, a flock of golden bee-eaters of 100 birds can render a good apiary of 50 families unprofitable.

Since the bee-eater is listed in the Red Book, it cannot be destroyed.

Bee-eater (buzzard)- enough big bird from the hawk family. It feeds mainly on hymenoptera - bees, wasps, bumblebees. Lives alone. Often, for feeding, they are placed along the lines of the main flight of bees and exterminate them.

Shrike- a bird of the passerine order, they have a powerful, hook-like beak, more characteristic of hawks, falcons or owls, but the claws on their feet are less developed. In addition to insects, they feed on small mammals and birds, lizards, and amphibians. Shrikes are found everywhere, with 9 species found in Russia alone. They are quite gluttonous.

Tit- Very useful bird, because it destroys many harmful insects, but sometimes the tit eats bees. In summer it lives in forests and therefore is of little harm to bees. In winter, the tit flies to homes in gardens and, when bees winter in the yard, causes them quite a bit of harm. There are all types of tits in Russia, but the most common tit is the common tit, which does not fly to warm regions in the fall, but winters here.

Tits can eat both dead and living bees. By knocking on the entrance with their beaks, they lure living bees out of the hive. As soon as bees appear in the entrances, the tits immediately eat them. Each tit can eat several dozen bees at a time.

Owners of hives made of polystyrene foam, polyurethane foam and polystyrene foam should pay special attention to this bird. If bee colonies overwinter under open air in these hives, tits can easily drill an entrance hole into the hive. To prevent this you can use:

• mirror - the pieces are glued above the arrival board, the bird seeing the reflection gets scared and flies away.
• mesh - covers either the entire hive or the landing board

— catches insects mainly in flight. Often flies into nesting buildings through broken windows, cracks, and small openings. Barn swallows glue nests under attics, the material is lumps of dirt reinforced with hair and straws. The nest is built by a pair, literally in a few days. The chicks are fed lumps of insects glued together with saliva, which are caught in huge quantities. There are 10 species found in Russia.

In addition to the above-mentioned birds, which eat bees in huge quantities, gray flycatchers, sparrows, redstarts, wagtails, etc. sometimes feed on them. But since bees are not their main food, the harm from these types of birds is minimal and there are no special protective measures when they appear in the apiary area. required.

Fighting methods

Several methods can be used to control insectivorous birds. The most obvious, but not long-term, is scaring birds away with loud noises or blank shots. You can also shoot a few birds and hang them along the apiary. In combination with loud shots, this gives a good effect, but do not forget that the bulk of birds cause damage in the hot summer, and accordingly, the corpses of killed birds will quickly decompose and smell strongly.

More stringent measures can be taken, such as shooting birds and destroying nests. It is worth remembering that it is prohibited to destroy the golden bee-eater, since it is currently classified as a rare bird.

Beekeeping, as well as other human activities, is threatened by bee-eaters. They can destroy bees, so you need to start fighting them in time.

Tit

A small bird with a greenish-yellow color and a small beak. There are subspecies with a bluish head. It lives in all regions and is active all year round.

They are most active in winter: they trick hibernating insects out of their cages by tapping the hive with their beaks. Birds are also dangerous because:

1. They excite the swarm, breaking the hibernation regime. Bees that wake up at the wrong time can get sick and die.
2. They easily destroy polystyrene foam hives, creating a passage inside and starting to eat the family from the inside.

However, tits have useful features: they eat dead bees, destroy sick or old bees, and prey on other pests, such as spiders. IN summer period Flying workers are usually not hunted due to the abundance of other food.

IN winter period they are the most dangerous.

Chickens

Poultry may feast on lethargic, sleepy bees if they overwinter in the same room. Such a neighborhood is dangerous not only for insects, but also for birds. You should not keep chickens near dead animals or wintering hives - the latter will prey on drones in adulthood.

Bee-eater

The bee-eater is a colorful species that feeds primarily on bees. She has a bright golden neck and a bluish belly. Reaches 25 cm in length. Bee-eaters have a piercing cry, which distinguishes them from other species.

They usually hunt:

• in sunny, clear weather at medium altitude, intercepting honey collectors on the fly;
• in cloudy and rainy weather they prefer a level closer to the ground, sometimes they wait near the entrances.

One bird eats up to 1000 individuals a day, causing significant damage to the entire apiary. They eat only bees - in a favorable period this is 80-90% of their diet. The poison does not affect them, so the bee-eater is capable of eating up to 20 thousand individuals during the honey collection period. Sometimes they hunt wasps and bumblebees.

The bee-eater nests in the ground, after leaving it seals the hole, but returns back after wintering. Therefore, the problem will not disappear in a year on its own; you need to print the mink.

Bee eater

The bee eater feeds on all Hymenoptera, including bumblebees and wasps. There are European and coastal species, both have bright colors and a long beak. They are similar in hunting methods to the bee-eater - they choose the routes of workers and eat them. Not dangerous in winter.

The main damage is caused from May until the time of departure for the winter. In the spring, nests begin to build, so the future location of the apiary must be carefully examined.

Shrike

The following species are dangerous for insects:

• grey;
• ginger;
• red-headed;
• black-faced

A small bird the size of a sparrow, of different colors. The upper part of the beak is curved down at the tip, as in large predatory species. They nest in pairs, so a place with even several representatives in the summer can destroy a significant part of the families.

Martin

They feed not only on insects. A small grayish bird found throughout Russia. They often nest near rivers, on forest edges and in populated areas. Sometimes he catches them by mistake near the ground.

Swifts

There have been cases of hunting in gardens and plantings of flowering trees. They do not cause significant damage to apiaries.

Other birds that eat bees:

• flycatchers;
• sparrows;
• redstarts;
• wagtails.

But these species begin hunting for stinging insects only during periods of acute food shortage.

Effective methods of control

Do not forget that other enemies can feed on bees: mice, spiders, frogs, philants. The latter is called the predatory wasp. The methods of dealing with them are largely similar.

Ways to fight:

1. Install wooden boards and plywood at an angle to the tap hole. The individual will be able to fly out through the gap, but the tit will not be able to get inside.
2. Stretch mesh around the entire hive or over cracks to prevent collapse.
3. Attach a piece of mirror above the entrance - the bird will be frightened by its reflection and fly away.
4. Offer wintering birds feeders with lard, grain, and dead bees. Well-fed birds will not bother hunting single individuals. It is important to regularly replenish food supplies.
5. Purchase and install an electronic repeller. The device reproduces the calls of birds of prey that tits avoid.

More radical methods are shooting, poisoning, and destroying nests. But it is prohibited to destroy bee-eaters: they are listed in the Red Book. Available methods of prevention include non-contact repelling with sounds, distraction with bright objects, and electronic repellers. As a last resort, if there are a lot of birds, you should change the location of the apiary.

Folk methods of scaring away any birds are hanging red cloth, shiny objects, and a scarecrow. They, like short-term sound effects, do not last long, and the pests soon return.

The natural way to fight is with the help of their enemies - predators. If the apiary is located not far from the house, then a cat or others can handle small birds large birds. The location of the future honey collection is studied in advance for the presence of nests. But all these precautions are not always successful: many types of pests move after the apiary is installed.

The bee eater is a bird of prey that is the enemy of bees! Bird eats bees

Conclusion

Some birds eat almost exclusively insects, while others eat a variety of foods. It is necessary to identify pests in time and protect the apiary.

The main thing is to remember about preventive measures and monitor the apiary!

Mole

First of all, once in the occupied territory, the moth lays eggs, which will take her no more than a week, camouflaging and hiding them in the garbage at the bottom of the hive, in the brood cells. Her eggs are small, only half a millimeter, they are difficult to notice, and therefore they are very easy to hide.

On the tenth day, the larvae appear and begin a feast consisting of honeycombs. They are capable of turning useful bee nectar into a dirty web with the remains of secretions and feces in a few days. This will only be the beginning of the process! After about twenty days, the bees' enemies pupate and after ten or twenty days they become butterflies, which again lay new eggs.

How to deal with moths:

1. Immediately remove all seriously damaged honeycombs and melt them down;
2. Those honeycombs that are less contaminated should be cleaned and treated with a disinfectant;
3. Clean the bottom of the hive and all grooves;
4. Go through all the cracks of the house with putty;
5. Give the bees some food so that, if they become stronger, they can gnaw the pest out of the honeycombs themselves and throw them out of the hive.

To prevent the enemies of bees and insects from sneaking into the honeycombs, it is important to follow the correct storage regime. The best option– this is treatment with formalin vapor or fumigation with sulfur. For storage, put in a box that is dry and additionally reinforced with tin (enough effective method protecting honeycombs from mice).

Butterfly

"Death's head", a dangerous predator for bees. A clear sign of an enemy is a pattern on the wings, somewhat reminiscent of a skull and crossbones.

This is a nocturnal predator, butterflies are the enemies of bees, insects that actively eat honey. Every night she can eat up to ten grams of honey. It reproduces on nightshade plants (potatoes, henbane).

The fight against these predators is purely mechanical: you need to install such a grid so that only a bee can get into the hive, and not leave huge holes for butterflies.

Ants

These sweet tooths prefer to go for honey in friendly groups; they take in quantity, and they are quite capable of taking home a kilogram of honey. As a rule, anthills are located somewhere near the apiary. Much less often, the enemies of bees, insects with an excellent social organization, cleverly hide their larvae in the walls of the hive. The red forest ant is ready to feast not only on sweet nectar, but also on the workers of the honey collection themselves.

Everything in nature is interconnected, so you can’t just destroy an anthill: ants work as forest and apiary orderlies, they are the ones who eat bees. By eating the corpses of bees that have died from infection, ants prevent the spread of deadly diseases.

It is necessary to cut off anthills only when they are located too close, about a hundred meters or less. To destroy the huge underground part of the insect town, their territory is flooded with boiling water, infusions of poisonous herbs or kerosene.

To prevent the penetration of ants, careful beekeepers dip each leg of the bee's home in kerosene or grease. Insects will not be able to overcome this barrier and will remain on the outer perimeter of the defense. If suddenly there are ants in the hive itself, then the bees should be urgently resettled, and the house should be repaired, washed and disinfected.

Wasps and hornets

These are unceremonious enemies of bees, insects that rob and kill. Numerous and strong bee family can defend its territory.

The beekeeper can help the beekeepers by finding and destroying their nests. Some dangerous insects can be caught with traps in the form of cans of sweet syrup.

Less serious pests

There are even less dangerous enemies of bees in nature; you also shouldn’t forget about them in order to be as prepared as possible for all surprises.

1. Ham skin beetles. They settle in the hive and begin to eat the brood and beebread. From them it is enough to treat the house with sulfur dioxide. Don't forget to resettle the bees first!
2. Earwigs. They feed on dead insects and beebread, hiding in the insulation, so it will be enough to change the material and coat the legs of the house well with grease.
3. Spiders. They should be removed as soon as you see them, as the spider can eat up to seven bees a day! They try to hide next to the entrance to catch flying insects in the web.

Birds

There are also enemies of bees - birds. Yes, some feathered neighbors can ruin a hive, but we must remember that in addition to being pests in the apiary, birds are still excellent helpers in the garden.

There are forest dwellers who feed on bees only in an emergency, out of hunger. These are species such as starlings, swallows, titmice, blackbirds and other birds. They will storm the hive only if they cannot find other food.

The enemies of bees should be highlighted separately: birds that mainly feed on bees and can destroy up to several hundred striped workers every day:

1. Golden bee-eater.
2. Bee eater.
3. Shrike.

They can be scared away from the apiary by sharp sounds, whistling, clapping and blank shots. As a last resort, you can find and destroy the nests.

Mice and shrews

Rodents attack bee homes most often in the autumn. These are natural enemies of bees in nature, which in winter will gladly eat honey reserves and even sleepy bees. Cunning mice eat only the body, and carefully gnaw off the reservoir with the poison and do not touch it.

In addition to physical damage, the very sight of an enemy in the house disrupts wintering. The bees begin to worry and worry. Then, in the spring, winter stress will have an extremely negative impact on the productivity of the bee colony.

There are many traps and poisons available to control mice. For example, the method of mixing cement into flour and broken glass into sugar has long been known.

Prevention and control measures

It is necessary to monitor and notice in time when enemies of bees enter the apiary. Experience, which comes gradually over the years, will tell you that the behavior and well-being of hardworking insects has changed. Experienced beekeepers already know their apiary down to the smallest detail and see all the changes taking place in the hives.

As a rule, there are several methods of preventing pests and, accordingly, combating the enemy:

1. Houses must be regularly and efficiently cleaned and disinfected;
2. Inspect and repair the hives; there should be no cracks in them;
3. It is important to walk around the apiary territory, along adjacent areas of land, forests or fields, and carefully inspect in order to notice new holes, nests and anthills in time;
4. Store honeycombs and equipment at the correct temperature and humidity;
5. Provide optimal and comfortable conditions for bees in the nest; they should have excellent ventilation and dry air, without excess moisture;
6. Apiaries must be placed away from bodies of water; bees do not like high humidity;
7. Regularly lubricate the legs of the home with sulfur, kerosene or grease.

By following basic and simple rules, you can preserve and increase your hardworking bee colony, and then reap an excellent harvest of aromatic honey, which warms you so pleasantly in the cold winter.

In contact with

Almost all insectivorous birds are dangerous to bees. But some species are able to practically destroy an apiary.

European bee-eater

A very beautiful small (up to 25 cm) bird. The most dangerous bird for beekeeping, as its diet consists of 80-90% bees. One individual can eat 700-1000 bees per day, which it catches well on the fly, but also in a field or apiary. Doesn't react to stings, maybe doesn't even notice. It lives in colonies, digging burrows in the ground, usually on steep slopes of rivers and ravines. When flying away at the end of the season, it seals the nest with a clay plug and returns to the same place next year.

Destructive for apiaries. A colony of birds next to the apiary quickly harasses all the flying bees. Since the bee-eater is listed in the Red Book, it cannot be destroyed.

Bee-eater (buzzard)

Quite a large (European - up to 60 cm) bird from the hawk family. As the name implies, it feeds mainly on hymenoptera - bees, wasps, bumblebees. Lives alone.

Shrikes

Of the shrike family, 9 species are found in Russia. They belong to the order of passeriformes and have a powerful, hook-like beak, more typical of hawks, falcons, and owls, but the claws on their feet are less developed. When cutting up prey big size They often pin it on tweezers or wires for ease of tearing. They live alone. Often seen on poles and lonely trees. In addition to insects, they feed on small mammals and birds, lizards, and amphibians.

Swallows

There are 75 species in total, 10 are found in Russia. It flies well, catches insects mainly in flight, and often flies into nesting buildings through broken windows, cracks, and small holes. Barn swallows glue their nests under attics, the material is lumps of dirt reinforced with hair and straws. They build it in pairs, literally in a few days. The chicks are fed with lumps of insects glued together with saliva, and huge quantities are caught. If only we limited ourselves to harmful ones...

Control measures

The biggest difficulties lie in the fact that birds are not 100% pests... If, when destroying the Colorado potato beetle, your neighbors will always (or almost always) support you, then the glory of a nest destroyer is even that glory... The golden bee-eater is, perhaps, the most beautiful bird in Russia, and the number of harmful insects destroyed by the swallow is enormous. Some species are rare, and people who harm birds or destroy their nests have not been considered good since ancient times, and were not an example to follow... Accordingly, the better you are at fighting birds, the less your neighbors will respect you (on average, exceptions are possible) .

• Scare away birds of prey with screams. or
  repel bee-eaters. You can use a bird repeller for this.

- The principle of operation of the bird repeller is based on alternately playing the hunting calls of birds of prey - hawk, eagle, falcon, owl in order to scare and drive away unwanted birds from your apiary. This effective and at the same time humane method will allow you to drive away not only birds that destroy bees, but also other dangerous and harmful animals for the apiary, such as rats and mice.

• Hanging long objects that shine in the sun: unwound foil from a transformer, pieces of unnecessary video tape, old CDs. Helps to protect apiaries, honey fields and the road there cannot be protected this way.
• Hang pieces of red fabric. As with wolf hunting, such flaps can scare away birds. They may not have any effect; a wolf, for example, is not always afraid to jump over flags. It's worth a try.
• Loud sounds. Hitting the pelvis, exploding firecrackers, setting up a scarecrow, and shooting from a gun help drive them away, but often not for long.
• Kill several birds and hang them near the apiary. Effective. True, we must be careful that cats, for example, do not get to the corpses. And the air, like those boots by Tikhon, does not ozone: birds do the most damage in the summer, and at this time the meat quickly decomposes...
• Shooting. Helps, but ammo is expensive. It makes sense to combine them: kill several and hang them near the apiary. Birds are smart enough to associate shots and corpses with danger.
• Destroy the nests. Very effective. You can hire the neighborhood boys. It is effective to get to the bee-eater colony and place lit cotton wool in the holes and seal the entrance. It is fraught with quarrels with other representatives of the species Homo sapiens. Especially from the “expressors of the aspirations of the people” who do not have an apiary.
• Run away. Together with the apiary. Or don’t go, don’t plant an apiary next to the bee-eater colony. It helps, however, without bees you can’t collect honey. And an unpleasant feeling remains, as after any defeat, not necessarily in a fight against birds. We take into account the obvious consideration: the closer the apiary is located to the nesting site of birds, the more dangerous it is for the bees. And more of them will die.
• Make protective devices. Various devices have been invented to protect against birds. Like, for example, in the video

In addition to birds that eat bees in huge quantities, gray flycatchers, sparrows, redstarts, wagtails, etc. sometimes feed on them. But since bees are not their main food, the harm from these types of birds is minimal and special protective measures are not required when they appear in the apiary area .

Alas, birds may divide insects into tasty and tasteless, but definitely not into harmful and beneficial for humans. The protection of your bees, as well as the limits of actions permissible for this protection, are up to you to determine.

Any beekeeper has to deal with the enemies of his “wards”. These include birds that eat bees. There are several types of them. The owner should know as much as possible about them, otherwise the apiary will suffer significant economic damage.

There are 2 types of bee-eaters common in Russia. The first one can be seen in the European part. Its length is 60 cm, the color is varied. The bird begins to build nests in May. It feeds on Hymenoptera. To feed themselves, the birds live in the fields, in the main summer areas of the working bees. They exterminate insects en masse. The larger bee-eater lives in Primorye, Irkutsk region and Sakhalin.
The beekeeper must take the following measures to combat the destruction of insects:

• scaring;
• changing the location of the apiary;
• prevention of placing the house in places where birds gather.

What other birds eat bees?

European bee-eater

The European bee-eater is a small insectivorous bird that flies in flocks. She has a bright golden neck and a bluish-green belly. Its length is 25 cm. These birds roost on trees, bushes, wires, fences, and telegraph poles. When they fly, it may seem that they are a swallow or a swift. It is easy for a beekeeper to recognize them from a decent distance, since these birds emit a strong cry in the air.

On calm, fine days, bee-eaters hunt at a decent height, on windy days - at an average height, and on rainy days - at a minimum. During cloudy periods, birds can attack apiaries. They are located on the arrival boards of the hives and snatch insects from the entrances. In sunny times, bees feed on them while flying. Bee-eaters destroy many hard-working insects, significantly reducing their performance during honey collection. If the birds have no other food, then in a day they are capable of destroying about seven hundred to thousand individuals. Research shows that when bee-eaters are located near an apiary, of the total number of birds eaten, 80% are bees. Insect poison does not affect birds. Measures to combat them should be the same as in the case of the bee eater.

Golden bee-eater caught an insect

Shrikes

Shrikes also destroy insects. There are several types of them. Most often, insects suffer from:

• gray (length up to 27 cm);
• red (length 20 cm);
• red-headed (length 18 cm);
• black-fronted (length 24 cm).

This species is voracious. Birds settle near apiaries, causing them significant damage. They need to be dealt with in the same way as with previous pests. They do not eat insects right away, but store them on bush thorns. These birds also cause damage to beekeepers. They belong to the passerine family. They have small limbs, a wide beak and long wings. These birds can feed on food, flies, butterflies and often choose bees as a treat. Swallows' nests are located along river valleys and forest edges. You can also meet them in populated areas.

Other bee eaters

They hunt bees and birds from the order of falcons. They can wait for insects on branches near the apiary. For example, the honey-buzzard falcon lies in wait for bees with pollen or nectar, since they fly more slowly due to the load. These insects become victims. In another way, this bird is called kobets or choglok.

Summer enemies of bees are swifts, which are considered the fastest birds in the world. The beekeeper needs to place the hives away from their habitats. In winter, tits experience hunger and try to find any source of food. In an apiary, they can choose one house and periodically attack it. Birds choose the house with the loudest buzz. Their attack is divided into several stages:

1. Knocking beaks near open entrances, causing the buzzing to intensify. When a bee flies out, the tit tracks the prey and grabs it, but does not do this in flight.
2. Pecking at the mesh bottom (if there is one), from under which you can smell the smell of death.
3. Repeat the first step until complete silence occurs (if it is impossible to damage the bottom).

The tits will not be able to eat all the bees from the house, but the colony will begin to worry and by spring will become the weakest. A good defense against these enemies is a “veranda” made of slats, which is fixed opposite the entrance. With this design, the birds will knock, but the insects will not hear them. Flycatcher birds also pose a danger to them.

Bees have many enemies, and many birds are not averse to feasting on them. To avoid this, the beekeeper must take appropriate measures, otherwise he will suffer significant financial loss.