The chickens instinctively feared our honey bees from the beginning. I witnessed helpless honey bees crawling on the ground right in front of the chickens, but the chickens looked at them and ignored them, even though they would snatch up any other similarly-sized creature.
I figured that our bees were safe, but this past week, I noticed our chickens were hanging out around the bee hive entrance a lot, so I went over to check it out and saw them cherry-picking bees on the front patio of the hive!
They eat not only ones that are old and dying, crawling around on the dirt because their wings have withered, but also they now eat live bees when they land. The bees fight back, and I saw some try to sting the chickens, but the bees’ stingers can’t get through the dense feathers.
To defend the bees, I have blocked the area around the hive with tomato cages and upturned lawn chairs. So far the chickens are thwarted, but they are clever girls (warning: this is the scene from Jurassic Park where the raptors attack the game hunter).
