At 10:15 PM 7/23/98 +0000, you wrote:
 
>But, today when I visited the apiary I found that I had a pod of 26
>fork tailed drongas (irritating agile birds that feed almost solely
>on bees at this time of year) nailing every single bee that left a
>hive. I shot 3 of them, and now then ramain carefully at a distance
>of 200m from any human - it is impossible to kill any more.
 
Hi Garth,
 
Use a scarecrow and/or a propane cannon. Here they are rented from the farm
propane dealer and are quite common in fruit and nut orchards. Also used to
protect young plants from birds.
 
>What I would be interested to know is if anybody on the group has
>devised a way of getting rid of surpluss, or had any experience with
>intelligent apiniverous birds? I used to view them as a blessing as
>they shut hives down normally at about 4.00pm when it gets cold and
>one would lose more bees to chill if they risked going out, but now
>with this overpopulation of them they are keeping the hives quiet the
>whole day.
 
Here in California we don't have bird and bee problems like yours but our
farmers have many bird problems that can be controlled with trapping,
aviacides, sounds, and even kites depending on the problem birds and if
they are protected by our government. We protect most of them and permits
are required to use chemical  aviacides and to shoot some of them. One of
my neighbors who rears fish on a grand scale shot more then his permit
allowed of protected water birds that were putting him out of business and
because of a employee problem, should have shot him too,  the government
did that for him, bankruptured him, and also is payed for his room and
board for 3+ years so be sure and check with you bird cops unless your
jails are better then ours which now charge you 50$ a day from your room
and board if they have a chance of collecting it which is seldom.
 
I have one water bird (protected) that comes into my fish pounds in my back
yard and cleans out ALL of the small gold fish. I can tell when its around
because the fish are all at the bottom hiding and it takes weeks to get
them up after the bird has left for the north fat from eating on them
during the fall and winter.
 
Many almond growers this area have constructed owl nesting sites because
the big birds do a job on keeping the little ones out of the orchards and
also do a job on the rodents. Some use wooden look alike of owls, crows,
and hawks. Don't think these work that well but I have even seen hawk kites
flying around fields to keep the birds out. Trapping works for some on
smaller birds, but requires a cold hearted worker to stomp them little
birds and this is usually done away from the eyes of the public and bird cops.
 
Another system that works for crows, and magpies is recorded calls that
attract them so you can shoot at them, or keeps them away. This is a cheep
deal if you can find the right calls as all you need is a old tape deck
with big amps and a car battery on a clock and a street sweeper shot gun if
you can find one.
 
Chemicals work good for some birds and this here is just about regulated
underground by our green laws and requires the right bate or an aeroplane
to get above them. If you have bigger birds and can get them coated with
super soap they will not be able to fly and can be killed or allowed to die
slowly as I would love to see my own fish eating bird do for all the fish
consumed. The super soap almost requires catching the birds in their night
quarters and spraying them.
 
ttul, the OLd Drone
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