mouse guard question

[Cuckmere couple]

ok, so am a bit reluctant to buy mouse guards for 84p and pay £4 p&p

but, does it not work to just use a QE at the front entrance?

does the queen leave hive at all and if not...why not just use QE?

 

[domino]

For the damage mice cause £1.50 a hive is good value imho.

 

[Millet]

ok, so am a bit reluctant to buy mouse guards for 84p and pay £4 p&p

but, does it not work to just use a QE at the front entrance?

does the queen leave hive at all and if not...why not just use QE?

Think about the drones pet..

 

[Millet]

But then again use a 9mm tunnel entrance 24/7 and all problems are solved.

 

[Millet]

ok, so am a bit reluctant to buy mouse guards for 84p and pay £4 p&p

but, does it not work to just use a QE at the front entrance?

does the queen leave hive at all and if not...why not just use QE?

Queen leaves the hive to mate... after that she does not leave unless they swarm or fling her out

 

[Cuckmere couple]

are there winter drones though? thought they all died off end of summer

 

[drex]

QE will strip off a lot more pollen than a mouse guard.

 

[Millet]

are there winter drones though? thought they all died off end of summer

I still have drones in two colonies and i have read it is not uncommon to have some over winter..

 

[enrico]

Once you have had mice, never again, destroy whole brood box making guards cheap!

 

[Madge]

Cuckmere, what kind of hive do you have? With some hives you do not need to add mouse guards - for example, Swienties or Abelos.

According to Ted Hooper a round hole should not exceed 3/8 of an inch (9.5mm) in diameter or a horizontal slot no higher than 5/16 of an inch (7.9mm). You can use a pencil or the flat side of a bottom bracket to give you an idea of the height of an entrance slot. He says a mouse's skull is wider than it is high which is why the slot measurement is smaller than the diameter one.

PS - The second part of your question: They're not going to swarm over winter, so the queen will not leave the hive; and there is unlikely to be any drones in the hive. But a queen excluder will be a hindrance to the normal to and fro of the workers. On a good day, some will go out briefly or drag dead bees out of the hive - so, no. Don't use a queen excluder.

 

[Cuckmere couple]

thanks all

i have nationals and restricted to a small entrance at the moment

happy to apply mousegaurds....just dont like paying P&P of much more than cost of guard and wondered why QE wouldnt work...no probs

 

[Madge]

thanks all

i have nationals and restricted to a small entrance at the moment
...

You don't have to buy mouse guards. Just modify the entrances to fit the measurements as explained in my previous post. (Besides, I don't like those metal mouse guards with holes in them as they hinder the bees from removing the dead bees from the hive.)

 

[Barbarian]

If you fit a standard mouse guard you may notice a couple of problems.
Some pollen is stripped off returning foragers. Housekeeping bees may have a struggle pulling bodies out through the holes.

I went to my local scrapyard and got some perforated metal that the bees couldn't get through. A 2 inch strip along the entrance, held by pushpins, with a bee space gap below the bottom edge works well. The foragers can return without restriction, bodies are easier to remove, ventilation is present and at other times the strip can be used to make a reduced entrance.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

If you fit a standard mouse guard you may notice a couple of problems.
Some pollen is stripped off returning foragers. Housekeeping bees may have a struggle pulling bodies out through the holes.

I went to my local scrapyard and got some perforated metal that the bees couldn't get through. A 2 inch strip along the entrance, held by pushpins, with a bee space gap below the bottom edge works well. The foragers can return without restriction, bodies are easier to remove, ventilation is present and at other times the strip can be used to make a reduced entrance.

why not just have an 8mm high entrance throughout the year rather than fiddling about with a bit of metal - it's what I do

 

[Curley]

why not just have an 8mm high entrance throughout the year rather than fiddling about with a bit of metal - it's what I do

Plus 1

 

[Erichalfbee]

Plus 2
Plus some underfloor

 

[bontbee]

But if you've already got deep entrances, you could turn a regular wooden entrance block into a "portcullis" type mouseguard by hammering frame pins into the ("underside") of the entrance at, say, 8mm intervals.

 

[MuswellMetro]

mouse guards where invented by the matchstick brigade as you had to remove the entrance block to vent the hive and hence mice could get in through the wide open entrance

if you have an open OMF then the 14"x14" hole is more than adequate ventilation for a vented hive and a closed or open OMF with small entrance block is ok for warm insulated non top vented hive

so in most circumstances, an entrance block on small entrance will do. however, if you have field mice in the area, tack a few frame pins in the entrance block at 9.5mm centres to stop field mice getting...cheaper than a £1.60 mouse guard

 

[Millet]

mouse guards where invented by the matchstick brigade as you had to remove the entrance block to vent the hive and hence mice could get in through the wide open entrance

if you have an open OMF then the 14"x14" hole is more than adequate ventilation for a vented hive and a closed or open OMF with small entrance block is ok for warm insulated non top vented hive

so in most circumstances, an entrance block on small entrance will do. however, if you have field mice in the area, tack a few frame pins in the entrance block at 9.5mm centres to stop field mice getting...cheaper than a £1.60 mouse guard

I have said it many times but get ignored and then the forum hierarchy pop up and say the same thing... use 9mm tunnel entrances 2/47 and your life (not yours) will be trouble free.