My purple Martin "problem."

[FordGuy]

Purple Martins are a welcome sight back here on Lake Murray, among the lake murrayians. I am not one. I am a beekeeper, and I live a half mile from the lake. I don't go to the lake at all, and wish they would drain it.

OH, I see the martins diving, swooping, power gliding into a mouth full of bees. I'm sure it's them. they fly circles around my bee yard.

nevertheless, the purple martins are big here. And I can't seem to get a queen bred for it.

Besides gunning them down in cold blood, what can I do to get some of my queens mated?

[Bubba]

A 12 Ga with some bird shot should work great

[FordGuy]

Purple Martins are a welcome sight back here on Lake Murray, among the lake murrayians. I am not one. I am a beekeeper, and I live a half mile from the lake. I don't go to the lake at all, and wish they would drain it.

OH, I see the martins diving, swooping, power gliding into a mouth full of bees. I'm sure it's them. they fly circles around my bee yard.

nevertheless, the purple martins are big here. And I can't seem to get a queen bred for it.

BESIDES GUNNING THEM DOWN IN COLD BLOOD, what can I do to get some of my queens mated?

Ahem, the part in all caps....

[Bubba]

Yea I know but I HAD a problem with b-martins. The 12 ga worked great. There were around 5 on a power line all bunched up and darting to grab a bee and then return to the same spot. Well I got three with one shot then just finished the others one by one.

Other than that you might have to AI your queens. I am not that delicate of a person.So the birds had to go.

[kenr]

Hear-Hear Bubba

[Mike Gillmore]

Besides gunning them down in cold blood, what can I do to get some of my queens mated?

"You can't fight city hall." Find another yard for your queens.

[yoyo]

I have 7 purple martin houses here in and around my property, 5 of them I own. I was very concerned about the birds going after the bees. I have not had any trouble at all from the martins. I have had trouble with other small birds getting a bee now and then, mostly the ones on the ground. I have had trouble all summer with a hawk getting my martins, just about one every other day, that I know about. I HAD about 75 birds here, but most of them are now fledged and gone on. Put up a hawk decoy, the birds hate it and will stay away. If something had to go here, it would be the bees, and that hawk!

[Bee Draggle]

[QUOTE Well I got three with one shot then just finished the others one by one.

You probably already know this but purple martins and songs birds in general are protected under federal law and you could find yourself in federal court for killing them. I don't know if there is any provision in sentencing that allows for beekeeping under a work release program.

[John Gesner]

You probably already know this but purple martins and songs birds in general are protected under federal law and you could find yourself in federal court for killing them...

We subscribe to the "three S" policy where I live... Shoot-Shovel-Shutup


I'd gladly trade you my skunk problem for your purple martin problem...

[dorado]

I have three purple martin houses of my own less than 100 feet from my three hives. I had the martins before the bees and was concerned about my ability to keep both when I was thinking about starting with bees.

I have had the bees 3 years and have raised queens in the same yard. I have not seen anything to indicate an inability for the two to co-exist. In fact Purple martins require mans help to survive because much of their natural nesting habitat is gone.

My love and enjoyment of the bees and purple martins is equal. You might say that the bees and martins share a kindred spirit in that they both benefit from our interest in them and nature as a whole.....Now to get on with our regular scheduled programming

[Apuuli]

What do you do when you have trouble with the neighbors?

[BerkeyDavid]

I agree I am a Martin landlord and beekeeper. Right now there are 50 baby martins getting fed, and few if any of them are being fed bees. How do I know? I can see both my hives and the beeyard from my porch.

I am not saying a martin never eats a bee. Especially in that terrible drought that the Alabama folks are having.

But from what I have observed, they get along fine. The martins should not be shot.

I have seen the bees chasing a particular red wing blackbird that seems to hang out near the beeyard.

By the way, I have never seen Martins setting on a telephone wire. They hardly ever roost except at their gourd nests or at night once they have left the nest. Otherwise they are constantly in flight.

[ScadsOBees]

What do you do when you have trouble with the neighbors?

3-S...shoot, shovel, sixty years in the pen....

[John Gesner]

What do you do when you have trouble with the neighbors?

Neighbors? What neighbors?

[samiyam318]

Apparently the purple martin is protected by federal law. 16 U.S.C. § 703 (protecting native migratory birds) and 50 C.F.R. § 10.13 (listing protected migratory birds).

It's probably also short-sighted to just blow away any animal or plant that creates an inconvenience for us.

[Tommy]

I have 48 Martin gourds up and most are filled With the young and parents. There are around 240 birds. I have 26 hives about 75 feet from them. This is my third year with Martins and have had no problems with them.

[IslandMountainFarm]

Seems even those privileged enough to be intimately involved with the natural world miss the point. It's all interrelated.

You live in South Carolina. You live on a lake. You have mosquitoes. Mosquitoes transmit an increasingly interesting number of diseases. Martins are great natural controllers of mosquitoes. Sprays that kill mosquitoes generally aren't healthy for honey bees.

Connect the dots.

[FordGuy]

3-S...shoot, shovel, sixty years in the pen....

first of all, I said very clearly in my original post I wanted an option other than shooting them. Not sure why this was moved to tailgater. Second, I don't have any neighbors here. Closest one I have to drive to. Third, I can't move yards - the bees live on my property.

[BULLSEYE BILL]

>There were around 5 on a power line all bunched up and darting to grab a bee and then return to the same spot.

Two birds that come to mind that have that behaviour are the Phoebe and the Kingbird. I have not seen Martins do that. Barn swallows set on power lines to rest.

I have been setting out Martin houses for over twenty years, this is the first year that I have had nesting birds, two pair! Now to get them settled at my new home next to the flood control ditch... I'm tired of feeling like a blood donor in my own back yard.

[TX Ashurst]

I had to remove my Purple martin gourds two years after I put bees at my house. The bees are south of the house, the p martins were East of it.
I, too, never had a problem with the martins. When they are feeding their young, a fair number of food-bugs get dropped by the inept baby birds. By far the most common are dragonflies.

MYTH: Purple martins eat lots of mosquitoes. Not true, they go for larger bugs.

FACT: dragonflies eat lots of mosquitoes. Connect those dots, if you will.

I loved having purple martins because they are unique in preferring to be near people, fill the mornings with song, and are beautiful flyers. It was a privilege to have them come every year. After I took down my pole, in spring, I had two sad weeks where the returning male birds flew around my house in circles looking for the house they used to use, and giving their distress cry. I'd had them long enough that most of my birds were born there.

If you enjoy shooting birds, shoot starlings and English sparrows. They are not protected, there are no seasons, no bag limits, and there is no end to them.