>>One could argue that they are eating the insects inside, except I see this a lot with my pears, which don't seem to have any insect pests.  Makes a real mess, if I mow over the drops before the deer get to them.

Some birds just eat fruit.  And they have recently done studies in Berlin showing how the color of ripe fruit tells the birds which fruits have the highest content of phytochemicals.  Since the exposure of each fruit to the sun and the color are uneven - and therefore the spread of the phytochemicals in the fruit is uneven - this might explain why birds peck in one spot on a fruit and move on to another one before finishing the first one! 

>>Anyway, back to bees.  I think a couple of house wren nests will be a good experiment, and from the plans I have found on the Net, I think even _I_ have sufficient carpentry skills to bang a few boxes together.  They might eat a few bees, but I doubt they would make much of a dent.

Wrens typically raise more than one clutch of babies in a season.  But they like to change nests for each clutch and they can be very picky in their nest choices!  The recommendation is to hang several nest boxes to ensure they will pick one to nest in on your property.

I am not sure how many bees wrens would take.  On the other hand, bees seem to keep squirles out of my backyard orchard.  I see the squirels in the spring when the bee population is small and the cool weather limits insect flying.  But I don't see squirles for the rest of the season.  And there are lots of them in the area!  Has anyone else observed this?  Squirles have not toched my hazelnuts and I am hoping they will stay away from my pecans and almonds!

>>Not very effective for my purposes (and difficult to herd), unfortunately.  ...   Smart chickens???  Now THAT'S an oxymoron.

I don't keep chickens but I have been reading up on the different breeds.  There are some breeds that are EXCEPTIONAL foragers (and therefore very economical eaters of grain!).  These might be optimal for your orchard setting.  They would have to be free ranging, of course.  This might be an issue here since we have lots of hawks... but there is no beating the nutrition and taste of the deep orange-red yokes of free range eggs. http://www.motherearthnews.com/eggs.aspx

Waldemar

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