[Brad Bee]

I don't know that I can answer your question, but I do have lots of Purple Martins and honeybees. My hives are 500-600 feet from one part of my Martins colony. I have never seen the Martins flying close to the hives eating orienting bees or anything like that. My concerns, that will be addressed very shortly are if I can raise queens with the Purple Martins being here. I am close to full capacity of Martins, which is a few over 100 pair, so I have from now until late May to raise queens before the nestling crop for the year starts flying around. I figure they will have a better shot of raising queens now than they will once I have the 200 adults and 800 or so nestlings flying around. We also have 25-30 nesting pairs of Barn Swallows, so I figure if my bees can raise queens, anybody's bees can raise queens. I will update when I find out if mine make it or not.

 

[Hambone]

I wouldn't worry about the Martins. They will probably get some, but I bet Dragonflies will get more every year. Even the combination of both wouldn't be enough to cause concern. Unless you were raising Queens.

The hives I have in full sun do better than the ones that get late afternoon shade.

 

[Brad Bee]

I wouldn't worry about the Martins. They will probably get some, but I bet Dragonflies will get more every year.

Purple Martins do a real good job at thinning the Dragonfly population. Dragonflies and Damselflies make up a high percentage of the diet that the adults feed to the nestlings.

 

[TerriB]

Thanks everyone!