# bees and bird netting



## JustinH (Nov 11, 2013)

I'm starting two colonies for the first time in the spring and one reason I'm beekeeping is to pollinate all of the fruits and veggies I grow. I cover my raspberries, blackberries and blueberries with that bird netting (or wildlife netting it might be called) you can get in rolls at Home Depot. If I don't do this, the birds will eat my berries before I can pick them. Last year I rescued a bumble bee stuck in the netting. Will the smaller honey bee also get stuck or can they fly through this? I have to protect my fruit but I can't have my girls getting tangled by the 100's! Thoughts?


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

Honeybees don't pollinate tomatoes, so you can eliminate that one from the list.

This HD net product:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Bird-X-1...olypropylene-Mesh-BN-4/202871743#.UpS8gtJDv2A

says it is 3/4" mesh. Normally honeybees would have no problem with that size. If the mesh is distorted in places that could make some areas a problem. There isn't any _perfect _solution.

Birds do get _some _of my blackberries and raspberries, but not enough to get me to net them. I don't have any blueberries.


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## psfred (Jul 16, 2011)

The standard "bird netting" is 1/2" squares or thereabouts, and bees will have no trouble at all going through it. Birds can't -- I got a real kick out of the mocking birds bouncing off mine this year.

However, you only need the netting when the berries start to ripen. If you have the time, leave the netting off until the berries start to color and only net while they are ripening. Take it down as soon as harvest is done. This may and may not work for you, I have trouble finding time myself.

I have to net my berries and grapes, didn't used to be a problem to speak of when I was a kid (must have had dumber birds then, eh?) but now if I don't net I don't get anything at all. For berries, I recommend making a frame of unglued plastic piping to drape the nets over. That way the berries are a long way away from the netting, the birds are quite greedy enough to sit on the netting and weigh it down to eat the berries through it. They will also hunt along the ground looking for a way in, so you should weight down the edge all the way round. Big pain, but better than all that work with no berries. Robins and mocking birds will both go right under netting and cheerfully gobble up berries, then find their way back out. Only takes a small hole, believe me!

Peter


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## JustinH (Nov 11, 2013)

psfred, as you can see in this picture, I build pvc frames around the beds that I drape the netting over. My hives will be just 20 feet to the left of the garden, facing the garden. And yep, the birds will find any opening under the nets. I'm out smarting them next year though and stapling the net to relatively heavy 1x2's that will be flush on the ground. Let's see them lift that!


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## Cascade Hunter (Sep 22, 2013)

We net our cherries and blueberries after the bloom.


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## psfred (Jul 16, 2011)

That should work. Keep an eye out for tears -- if one of those birds can get through, they invite all their friends!

Peter


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