Chicken bald back

[Angelmum21]

Hi - I was checking out tips for the winter for beekeeping with fellow beekeepers at club because a colleague had asked me what she should say for an article she is writing. I mentioned 3 things: feeding up in Autumn, placing a mouse restrictor across the entrance and shading hive entrance if it snows. ( I know the wasp guard on Omlet hives works for mice as well but this article is for general keepers). However, the club beekeepers said what about Woodpeckers because they have to cover their hives effectively with a fruit cage arrangement to stop woodpeckers pecking through the hive to get the honey stores. So my question is Do woodpeckers attack Omlet hives and do I need to do the same?

[Olly]

I'd have thought its unlikely, but I don't know for sure. The main risk with woodpeckers is where your hives are located - if they're in an out-apiary in woodland it's much more likely than if they're in your garden, say.

 

Woodpeckers can do immense damage, but I wouldn't have thought they would be attracted to peck at plastic.