I just chased about 7 turkeys and one peacock away from my hive today. We have lots of wild turkeys here (northern CA) and I wasn’t thinking of them coming to eat my bees being a problem. Has anyone else had them coming to eat bees? Can the bees defend themselves well enough from this level of bird-predation, or should I fence off the hive or something?
If I put a small fence around, hopefully the bees would get up above bird level before hitting the fence perimeter, but it would need to be small enough to discourage the birds from just hopping inside. I’ll be going out to recheck and maybe fence tomorrow, but I wanted to see what other’s experiences were and how big of a problem you think this might be.
Wild turkey is outstanding to eat!!! Filet the breast. Beat it thin. Make schnitzel out of it. Yum!! You ever think you would get wild turkey recipe advice on a beekeeping forum!!
Dragoness, what a great post! You don’t hear this one very often. I have wild turkeys hanging out in my pasture, but they’ve not shown any interest with my hives (not that I’ve seen anyways). My neighbor ingeniously posted a plastic cutout of a coyote next to her garden to prevent damage from deer, rabbit, etc. and it worked like a charm! Why don’t you try getting one of those and put it near the hives?
Last week, I flew into San Franscisco for business and as the plane was landing I laughed when I saw one on a grassy strip (probably to deter Canada geese from hanging out there).
Ahh, that must be where I went wrong. Actually, our friends prepared it for us - he is a hunter and had shot a few of them. It was roasted after brining, and was still very tough - especially the legs. Might be OK in a chili or stew, but I didn’t really care for it. Will have to ask to try it schnitzel style if they offer it again.
Do you have a fencing plan? I am in the process of building a lightweight fence around our hives for suspending insect screen to conform with city regs (urban site), and I would love to hear your ideas.
Theres tons of metal wire fencing and a few metal fenceposts left over from stuff my dad had to rip out, so I was just going to put up a small circle of that around the hive, leaving a piece unattached so I can get in. Nothing fancy.
Home Depot says T-post… I say heavy, awkward, difficult to hammer in piece of recycled railway steel. Have you ever tried hammering in something that is 8 feet tall? It is very hard, even with a fence post driver. I should have worn ear plugs too - very noisy.
Yes.they can be a bit demanding but I’m sure you exaggerate and probably had them in in no time at all… I might add for anyone thinking of using them for temporary fencing they are harder to take out than put in. Some smart guy has invented a lever thingy but I use the the FEL on the tractor.
Its 15 feet to the peek of my home and the turkeys fly up and roost there often. so they dont just walk around on the ground. You might want to consider that when you are designing your fence.
I’m hoping if I make the fence small enough diameter that they won’t want to fly down inside it. Just want to leave only barely enough room for me to maneuver when I’m checking on my hives, plus a safe zone in front of the entrance for the bees protection.
