Author Topic: Wood peckers!  (Read 7429 times)

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Offline keeperofthebees

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Wood peckers!
« on: February 06, 2014, 11:53:42 pm »
How many of you guys have to keep the woodpeckers at bay?  Elm trees(downy nests) in southern wi & bee hives don't get along well.  The pests & critters of times past are still out there raising a fuss.  My first beehive was a styrofoam set up.  One winter I checked on them to find pencil sized holes where the boxes sit on top of one another.  If you looked real close you could see little claw marks from the birds feet.  If you look up at the dead elms you see downy holes up & down the trees, and hear them all summer & fall.  Most guys wrap rabbit wire on each deep box, then tie it up with rope, old electric fence wire, or duct tape.  I only bought one styro hive, and that was the end of that.  I hear the wood peckers get after the old old old tired boxes though the hand holes.

Offline Perry

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Re: Wood peckers!
« Reply #1 on: February 07, 2014, 07:30:19 am »
I've been lucky, no damage from woodpeckers. Had a hive that stunk like a skunk for a few days though?
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Offline Riverrat

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Re: Wood peckers!
« Reply #2 on: February 07, 2014, 09:05:40 am »
Never had problems with woodpeckers. We don't see many of them around here.  I could only imagine opening a hive woodpeckers just got done hammerin on the side.
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Offline Walt B

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Re: Wood peckers!
« Reply #3 on: February 07, 2014, 11:05:27 am »
We have woodpeckers, but they don't bother the hives.



They seem mostly content with the gum bumelia, hackberries, and mesquites.

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Offline riverbee

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Re: Wood peckers!
« Reply #4 on: February 07, 2014, 11:40:00 am »
great picture walt!  i don't have any problems with woodpeckers nailing my hives, but they do like to announce their presence on tin roofs..... :D
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Offline Perry

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Re: Wood peckers!
« Reply #5 on: February 07, 2014, 11:44:15 am »
We have lots of the little ones, but we also get a few of these show up as well. They're big!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/PileatedWoodpeckerFeedingonTree.jpg
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Offline keeperofthebees

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Re: Wood peckers!
« Reply #6 on: February 07, 2014, 11:48:53 am »
We have woodpeckers, but they don't bother the hives.



They seem mostly content with the gum bumelia, hackberries, and mesquites.

Walt

That's a redheaded woodpecker, isn't it?  We have downys that love bees for dinner.  Not too much of us have trouble, other than boxes that are from the 30-40's and tired.

Offline Walt B

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Re: Wood peckers!
« Reply #7 on: February 07, 2014, 12:07:40 pm »
It's a Red-bellied...don't know why they call it that, there's no "red belly".  :D  The Red-headed woodpecker's head is all red, not just a stripe.

Perry, I would love to have a Pileated Woodpecker show up here. They are just lovely, but I'm happy with the Red-bellied variety.

We watch and record birds a couple of days a week for Cornell Lab of Ornithology (Project Feeder Watch). Eack week we have to "confirm" several sightings such as Hooded Mergansers, Gadwalls, and other ducks. They'd probably go "bonkers" with a Pileated Woodpecker.

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Offline Crofter

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Re: Wood peckers!
« Reply #8 on: February 07, 2014, 02:04:50 pm »
We have lots of the little ones, but we also get a few of these show up as well. They're big!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/PileatedWoodpeckerFeedingonTree.jpg

We have at least one pair nesting really close; they are the size of a crow. I heard quite a commotion in the bush last summer and went to investigate. It was a black squirrel and a pileated woodpecker swearing at each other. So far they have not bothered the bee boxes.
Frank

Offline brooksbeefarm

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Re: Wood peckers!
« Reply #9 on: February 07, 2014, 02:23:51 pm »
I lay rubber snakes on my grape vines and in my strawberry patch to keep birds away, never had them bother bee hives. Jack

PS. I also don't tell people i let pick that there they're either. :laugh:

Offline Slowmodem

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Re: Wood peckers!
« Reply #10 on: February 07, 2014, 03:18:58 pm »
The house I grew up in had rough cedar siding.  Woodpeckers started showing up around daylight and they would peck the knotholes.  My dad got some wood filler and filled them up, but back they came.  He ended up tacking up mousetraps and they would snap at the woodpeckers when they would start pecking.  It really was an ingenious solution.  I told him I was going to send a picture to Real People (although I never did)



Believe it or not, he has mouse traps tied to the fruit trees out in the yard now.   :)
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Offline apisbees

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Re: Wood peckers!
« Reply #11 on: February 07, 2014, 03:22:16 pm »
Yes I get them some years in some locations. Don't worry about it much, or by the time I notice the problem is over and the wood peckers have moved on.
Holes in the hand holes and they love cedar migratory lids they only go after the hives in the late winter before the other insects come out of dormancy After that they leave the bees alone. we all got to eat even the wood peckers. The bees propolize the holes shut, or a piece of tin over the hole. I Leave it up to the bees.
Horses that are bored with nothing to do but reach over the fence and chew on the hive covers cause more stress and colony death than the wood peckers do.
It's a sign that the hive has made it thru the winter. They wont spend time getting access to a dead hive. 
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Offline LazyBkpr

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Re: Wood peckers!
« Reply #12 on: February 07, 2014, 04:31:42 pm »
We have the red headed ones around here...  WHY they INSIST on rattling the tin on the shed and barn I cant figure out, but there are days they drive me batty!!    No problems with the hives as yet!
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Offline apisbees

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Re: Wood peckers!
« Reply #13 on: February 07, 2014, 05:04:24 pm »
they rattle the roofing or flashing to wake up the insects and to get them to come out and investigate the clatter, and when the insect does the wood pecker eats them.
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Offline ablanton

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Re: Wood peckers!
« Reply #14 on: February 07, 2014, 08:12:19 pm »
The house I grew up in had rough cedar siding.  Woodpeckers started showing up around daylight and they would peck the knotholes.  My dad got some wood filler and filled them up, but back they came.  He ended up tacking up mousetraps and they would snap at the woodpeckers when they would start pecking.  It really was an ingenious solution.

Maybe I'll try that.  I have cedar siding also.  Last Spring, a stupid woodpecker pecked a hole in the back of my house, moved in, and started a family in the wall.  Plenty of folks advertising to cut bees out.  Woodpeckers, not so much.
Andy

Offline Barbarian

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Re: Wood peckers!
« Reply #15 on: February 14, 2014, 06:57:20 pm »
I haven't had this problem but in some parts of the UK Green Woodpeckers have killed hives.

The attack time seems to be towards the end of winter and once one bird learns the trick others copy.

Two methods of prevention are suggested. The first is to cover the hive with a bird-proof metal mesh cover which has clearance from the hive to prevent the bird reaching through. Another method is to tack thicker (fertilizer sack) plastic sheet down the hive sides. The birds apparently can't get a grip. The plastic shouldn't cover the hive entrance.
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Offline barry42001

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Re: Wood peckers!
« Reply #16 on: February 14, 2014, 10:31:56 pm »
We have the pileated ( think that's right ) woodpecker, they are giant's of the normally medium to smallish woodpeckers I had up north. Never had  issues with them.

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Offline Bakersdozen

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Re: Wood peckers!
« Reply #17 on: February 22, 2014, 08:26:49 pm »
We have plenty of Downy and Yellow Bellied woodpeckers here.  I've never noticed them bothering the bees.  I sure have noticed the bees chasing the little purple finches away from a feeder that was placed too close to a hive!

Offline mamapoppybee

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Re: Wood peckers!
« Reply #18 on: June 09, 2014, 03:28:59 pm »
This was one of my dads favorite birds. Said if he could be reincarnated it would be as a pecker wood. Thats what he liked to call them birds. have a pilleated i like to watch Think about his nick name for them and have a lil chuckle at a good memory.

Offline Intheswamp

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Re: Wood peckers!
« Reply #19 on: June 09, 2014, 04:50:37 pm »
I've been lucky, no damage from woodpeckers. Had a hive that stunk like a skunk for a few days though?

"Skunk Honey"...what a great name for a honey label!!!!