[TerriB]

Hello everyone! I am brand new to beekeeping. I will be getting my first hive in a few weeks, and I have purple martins. I'm trying to locate the ideal location for my hives. It's my understanding they need morning sun, noon and evening shade here in Texas. The area I have in mind is fairly close to my martin houses. How close would be too close? BTW, I'm so excited about getting honey bees! Thanks for any input and help you can give me.

 

[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!