Nicotine is the culprit and a known primary cause of colony collapse. It's a cheap way to create pesticides because the tobacco industry has so much waste to create the clean and perfect product the world prizes. Round up and the like was banned from our estate a decade ago and though we suffer the spring dandelions we have our bees back and many other helpful insects.
We control our mosquito and wasp populations via natural methods. We feed grain to house sparrows through the spring and summer with seed and grain through the fall and winter. We ground broadcast randomly during insect season to keep them searching for the grain and by being protein deficient they seek any and all crawling and flying insects.
Our native flock has upwards of 70 individuals and even some corvids have joined the flock to clear our greenery of pests. Funny thing is they avoid bees and bumblebees, while feast on wasps. Another near side effect is they (birds) watch everything we do and seem to have figured out we bring their food in the cars and have never relieved themselves on them after the first generation. Spotless cars and nice chirping and singing all year long.
The red tail hawks take a few sparrows in fall and winter, but once the barn swallows return they get driven away quickly. I'm no tree hugger, we've chainsaws and lots of self felled firewood, but giving birds and plants a break from chemicals to make our grounds look like a golf course has been a godsend for the property. No more being driven inside by mosquitos in the evening and no more fighting wasps away from outdoor meals with fruit or sweets on display. Our Tomcat has even figured out that these birds are not food. He just spaces out from his window perch like a topless bar bouncer who's seen so many titties he barely notices them anymore.
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GoogleHatesVoat ago
Nicotine is the culprit and a known primary cause of colony collapse. It's a cheap way to create pesticides because the tobacco industry has so much waste to create the clean and perfect product the world prizes. Round up and the like was banned from our estate a decade ago and though we suffer the spring dandelions we have our bees back and many other helpful insects.
We control our mosquito and wasp populations via natural methods. We feed grain to house sparrows through the spring and summer with seed and grain through the fall and winter. We ground broadcast randomly during insect season to keep them searching for the grain and by being protein deficient they seek any and all crawling and flying insects.
Our native flock has upwards of 70 individuals and even some corvids have joined the flock to clear our greenery of pests. Funny thing is they avoid bees and bumblebees, while feast on wasps. Another near side effect is they (birds) watch everything we do and seem to have figured out we bring their food in the cars and have never relieved themselves on them after the first generation. Spotless cars and nice chirping and singing all year long.
The red tail hawks take a few sparrows in fall and winter, but once the barn swallows return they get driven away quickly. I'm no tree hugger, we've chainsaws and lots of self felled firewood, but giving birds and plants a break from chemicals to make our grounds look like a golf course has been a godsend for the property. No more being driven inside by mosquitos in the evening and no more fighting wasps away from outdoor meals with fruit or sweets on display. Our Tomcat has even figured out that these birds are not food. He just spaces out from his window perch like a topless bar bouncer who's seen so many titties he barely notices them anymore.