carpenter bees, ants, and crows

[horsetails16]

Is there any way to keep carpenter bees away from the chicken coop? I don't want them chewing a way or building a nest in the wood. Also, I have ants crawling up the side of the coop carrying eggs.. any way to keep those away other than chemicals that may harm my chickens? And one more question.. my neighbors yard is home to a family of crows.. I have 3 full grown chickens so I'm not very concerned, but I've heard crows will gang up to kill a chicken. I've seen them chase away hawks though, and we rarely see hawks around because of them. Just post thoughts on if I should encourage the crows to stick around or not.. thanks!!

 

[anbsmom]

My uncle owns a plant nursery and told me that several orchards have trouble with carpenter bees in their greenhouses. They get pieces of wood and drill holes close to the same size as the bees (about 1/2 to 3/4") in the wood. They hang up the wood with their drilled holes in their fruit trees to attract the bees. The bees go to these holes instead of boring their own. They are wonderful pollinators. Hope this helps. We have them here too, but they seem to only last a little while, but the holes they make sure do stick around.

 

[horsetails16]

Thats a good idea, thanks! We do have lots of flowering trees around which includes some old apple trees; I will be able to easily hang pieces of wood from them for the bees.