Bee-eaters hunt mainly by keeping watch for flying insects from a perch. The insect is snapped up in the bill, then the bird returns to the perch, where it beats the prey against the perch until it is inactive. A stinging insect is held near the tip of its tail and rubbed on the perch to be relieved of the venom and sting before being swallowed whole. Besides branches, carmine bee-eaters use the backs of game or cattle and even large birds, such as Jackson’s bustard or storks as animate perches, waiting to catch any insects that they disturb. Carmine bee-eaters also fly freely to bush fires to prey upon fleeing insects.

Bee-eaters are insectivorous, eating mainly flying insects. Besides bees, they feed on grasshoppers and locust. They nest in large colonies in cliffs, usually near river banks, where they dig long horizontal tunnels often eight feet or more long with their beaks. Females lay three to five eggs per clutch. The eggs are white and glossy and about 9.75 x 8.2 inches (25 x 21 mm). In a large colony there is the possibility of indiscriminate egg laying in any of several adjacent holes. Both parents take part in excavating the nest, incubating the eggs and caring for the young.

A colony of carmine bee-eaters can fill a whole riverbank with thousands of nest holes.

The birds begin their nest holes by flying head first into the dirt to make a dent. Carmine bee-eaters line their nest holes with the remains of insects they eat and then throw up. The smell keeps the rodents away.  The more birds that dig into a riverbank, the weaker it becomes.  After a while, the bank crumbles.