Chickens and bees?

[sandypaws]

we have wild bees in my area.. in the summer (here in the desert) the bees will come for the water.. the chickens will pick and eat the bees around the water bowl.. not too many but i have seen them do it..

 

[Lu King]

Would the African bees attack the chickens? They are suppose to go after anything not even close to the nest.

 

[WGB]

LOL thats a thought!

 

[reallemons1]

We had them at the barn for a while. It really wasn't a problem around the chickens or guienas. However, they seemed to like getting in my hair...just ask my neighbor. He got a big kick out of me running while trying to knock the bees out of my head. They were later moved towards the woods, away from the barn.

 

[Reinbeau]

Quote:
Do you use a perfumed shampoo or conditioner? Maybe hairspray? Any strong scent like that will attract them to your hair. My husband is an Ivory boy, he uses it even to wash his hair, but we were vacationing down south and had no Ivory, he used Suave or something like that, and the bees just loved him!

I obviously use something they don't care about, they never bother my hair.

 

[reallemons1]

Hmm? I think I was using Suave shampoo at the time. I never got stung by them, but their buzzing on my head was pretty nerving!

 

[Reinbeau]

Yea, they didn't sting Hubby, either, they just drove him nuts. Of course we were down in Lulu, Georgia at an amazing beekeeper's house in late February, the first warm day they'd had. It went up to 70, and this guy is a bee breeder, he had about 400 hives out there, and all the bees needed a good cleansing flight. It was amazing. The hum grew to be so loud you could hear it from the front yard, and our rental care was literally covered in golden bee poop!

Don's bees are so mild, no one was bothered other than hubby with the shampoo, we walked freely amongst the hives. I've never seen anything like it!

 

[dale]

21 chickens, 4 hives of bees. The chickens scratch and goof off all around the hives and there hasn't been any issue that I've observed in the four weeks of chicken ownership.

I keep my hives elevated about 12" to 18" off the ground so it isn't like the chickens have real good access to the "front door."

 

[big greg barker]

Quote:
Don't want to rain on your parade, but my folks raise bees, and 10 hives sounds like a VERY ambitious number to start with. Study up to be sure what you're getting into. Good luck

 

[schmije]

10 hives is a lot for a beginner. You might want to start with a couple and work up from there.

We have bees and chickens, and we've never had any problems. Our compost pile (that the girls LOVE) sits about 20' from the hive, and I've never seen the chickens pay any attention to the bees. We also keep our bees raised up on cinder blocks.