Bats eating bees

[Troy]

Was closing up a hive just at dusk the other night and had an invasion by bats.

Musta been 10 of them and they would fly right up to me - within a foot of my head. I could see their little faces perfectly in the fading light. They were just circling around and I assume scooping up the bees that I had stirred up.

Would they get stung?

Would a beesting on tiny little bat cause problems? Probably not kill them, but maybe stun them long enough to land and not be able to fly for a while?

It was quite an airshow for about 10 minutes. Once all the bees went inside and the light had faded, the show was over. Very cool.

[mike haney]

lots of mammals (skunks, bears, my collie dog) eat bees and apparantly suffer no ill effects. the only difference is the scale. apparently it dosent bother bats. be glad you have'em, 'cause the "white nose fungus" is making 'em pretty rare here this summer.
good luck,mike

[Ravenseye]

Yup. Bats are good to have. I've never had a problem with bats around the bees. They seem to co-exist quite well in the yard.

[Swobee]

I was just at the local museum with our grandson recently and we were talking about building a bat house or two to put at the country home we just bought. He wanted his birthday party there and his friends had quite a time with holding snakes, bats and other critters. Seeing the 40' crocodile replica and fossil was amazing.

I never thought of bats being a problem for the bees. Most bees are in before the bats begin their evening flights, but apparently their paths may cross sometimes. Maybe I should rethink the bat house idea? With the white nose fungus article in last friday's local newspaper, I thought we should definitely do a bat house, but now with potentially eating my bees, I'm re-thinking the notion.

[Blackwater Bee]

Bats and Bees, great to have both, it's a good thing they're on different shifts