Pole or bush beans? If bush you could put a row cover (Remay cloth) over them until they are up and growing.

If pole cut the bottom of a liter pop or... bottles and cover until established. I had to do this with one particular variety I was growing, birds would not leave them alone.

You could also plant in pots and transplant out later but the other methods would be less bother. I plant in pots myself to get an early start on beans that need a long season, but these are in my greenhouse.

Annette

Pole . I do plan to start them indoors. Granted the birds went to town on the sown seeds in the ground, but even the ones that managed to survive and sprout, they were have bean leaf salad all day long. After a 2 1/2 week battle, I called it quits, pulled the trellise down and just planted more backup tomatoes I had in case the primary ones went bad.

I had the same problem. If it wasn't birds, then the voles would attack, and what they didn't get, the rabbits would lol. So, I went with wire hoops about 18" tall, covered with Remay, like Annette described. Once the plants hit the top of the "tunnel", I removed the covers. All the attackers don't seem interested once the plants are that tall. Of course, the Japanese and Mexican Bean Beetles still lay in wait.