Maybe a rat

[deemann1]

What you guys think
https://ibb.co/6X4PnV8
https://ibb.co/BGwMMbc

 

[enrico]

Could be!

 

[Beanwood]

Nope - don't think so.

One of the pictures shows gnaw marks in line across the entrance gap - which would appear to be too big for a rat

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Definitely a rat. If it wasn't dark outside I'd wander up to the top of the garden and show you photographs of the damage a rat did to the blanking boards of a stack of supers - and the edges of quite a few boxes. Much bigger grooves than those in your photograph

 

[deemann1]

Dirty Rats

 

[Popparand]

So what you need is a rat writ writ for a rat. (Served by John Wayne)

 

[masterBK]

Rodents have continuing growing incisor teeth and need to gnaw to keep them sharp and gnawing also prevents these teeth growing too long. Looking at the grooves produced by the incisors it is a rodent of rat size. If near water maybe the work of a watervole* although these are not that common these days but more likely, as others have suggested , a brown rat. These are creatures of habit so once they have decided on what they want to chew then more damage is likely to occur. In the old days when we used creosote on bee hives such rat damage was rare presumably as they didn't like the taste!

* there were no water voles in Ireland prior to the 20th century but now can be found in many parts

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Just a couple of days damage - over 100 frames of new drawn comb

 

[deemann1]

Rodents have continuing growing incisor teeth and need to gnaw to keep them sharp and gnawing also prevents these teeth growing too long. Looking at the grooves produced by the incisors it is a rodent of rat size. If near water maybe the work of a watervole* although these are not that common these days but more likely, as others have suggested , a brown rat. These are creatures of habit so once they have decided on what they want to chew then more damage is likely to occur. In the old days when we used creosote on bee hives such rat damage was rare presumably as they didn't like the taste!

* there were no water voles in Ireland prior to the 20th century but now can be found in many parts

Hives are around 10 metres from a old pond

 

[deemann1]

Just a couple of days damage - over 100 frames of new drawn comb

View attachment 18174

View attachment 18175

View attachment 18176

Holy crap they did serious damage

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Holy crap they did serious damage

Not as much as I then did to them