Mouse guard use by restricting entrance?

[testka]

Hi
Over the last few winters I have always left in the reduced entrance block and further restricted the height of the block to stop mice. The bees seem better able to enter without loss of pollen and do not appear to have issues with throwing their dead out which I had previously when using regular mouse guards due to blocked holes.
Have been informed reducing the height will not work and the only way to keep mice out is to use regular mouse guard as a small how is necessary.
Question is have I simply been lucky and should I go back to using standard guards.
Thanks.

 

[ratcatcher]

whatever size reduced entrance you opt for, just check it with a biro pen, if that'll fit through the hole, then so will a mouse

 

[oliver90owner]

Just need to join up the thinking here.

Queen excluder and mice.
Leaving a gap higher than a queen excluder will allow bees in. A little leeway betwween what bees could squeeze through and that for mice. Q/Es tend to strip some pollen, but timber will be kinder.

Your informant needs to do a little more thinking.

Fitting on a 'bee space' rebated batten such that the bees enter under the batten climbing vertically and then going through the normal entry slot would further defy any mice making them not only flatten themselves but also turn through a rignt angle.

That is basically the arrangement on my Dartingtons except they first go through horizontally then turn upwards, which is probably even more mouse resistant. My other hives have a much reduced entrance all year round. Decent sized drones just have to squeeze through, but they manage it.

 

[Erichalfbee]

My MB hives have an entrance that is a bee space high and runs the whole width of the front. No mice.
The wooden boxes have a similar entrance running half the width. No mice either.

 

[Adie]

I have used reduced entrance blocks for 6 years and have not any mice get in; about 25cm by a bee space or so high. High enough to let drones and queen to get in and out easily.
Adrian

 

[sbisme]

Adrian I take it you mean 25mm not cm

 

[enrico]

I have only ever had mice once, with an entrance reducer in too! Would never want them again, had to destroy loads of frames, stinky dirty things. Eaten wax and wooden surround of frames away to make their nest. I now use mouse guards.
E

 

[itma]

I have used reduced entrance blocks for 6 years and have not any mice get in; about 25cm by a bee space or so high. High enough to let drones and queen to get in and out easily.
Adrian

Adrian I take it you mean 25mm not cm ��

No, it can happily be 25cm wide IF it is low enough!

And it does need to be LOW. About 6mm ±1mm should be OK. (This is smaller than a standard beespace.)

It needs to be lower than the height of a round hole in a 'standard' mouseguard, because mice can fit through a smaller 'slot' than they can a round hole.
Whereas a Biro might indicate an appropriate round hole size, I think a slot actually needs to be lower.


When using standard mouseguards, I have removed the entrance block - to remove the risk of disaster from a very few holes being blocked and imprisoning the bees.


Also a warning that folks may encounter some bad old advice to turn the entrance block upside down. This only has the effect of making it very much harder for the colony to remove dead bees, with consequent health risks. Don't do it!

 

[Erichalfbee]

OR you can do this

 

[Amari]

OR you can do this

Loks neat. How far apart are the pins?

 

[Erichalfbee]

7mm.
no pollen stripped off and you can leave them in place all year apart from wasp time.

 

[Michael Palmer]

Or, you can use a wedge of 1/2" hardware cloth.....

Then again, maintain an entrance of the correct dimensions and bees who hate mice and are always on the ready.

 

[Hachi]

That is such a cool photo Mike

 

[itma]

Or, you can use a wedge of 1/2" hardware cloth.....

Then again, maintain an entrance of the correct dimensions and bees who hate mice and are always on the ready.

Once again, US practice may not be the best guide for UK beekeeping!

Half an inch hole size (12.7 mm) is plenty big enough to let in a British Standard mouse!

And the point of a mouseguard, and the reason for people reporting winter losses due to mice, is that bees are simply NOT "always on the ready".
When the temperature gets down below about 10ºC, the bees will begin to be clustered rather than defending their colony. And that sort of temperature is just fine for the mice to be moving around, looking for a winter home.
Hence you'll see lots of mouseguards but a photo like Mike's ex-mouse is a bit of a rarity.

 

[Michael Palmer]

Once again, US practice may not be the best guide for UK beekeeping!

Half an inch hole size (12.7 mm) is plenty big enough to let in a British Standard mouse!

True, but I've used these screens for 40 years, and they work. Perhaps it's the fact that they are folded, and not flat?

 

[rockdoc]

All mine are on Dartingtons and the mouse guards are confined to the shed wall gathering dust. These floors are easy to make. If I can make them then they really are easy!

 

[BeeJayBee]

[...]Dartingtons [...] floors are easy to make. If I can make them then they really are easy!

Yes, I have managed to make some, so it must be easy to do!

 

[itma]

True, but I've used these screens for 40 years, and they work. Perhaps it's the fact that they are folded, and not flat?

Or perhaps American mice are bigger and fatter than their British counterparts?

 

[itma]

All mine are on Dartingtons and the mouse guards are confined to the shed wall gathering dust. …

So, is it the vertical back wall or the narrowness of the entrance slot that gives the mouseproofing?

I have a BHS floor on one hive - bit like a Dartington, but with a 45º slope up to the slot. Rather than following the BHS suggestion of a horizontal mouseguard over the slot, I pinned a couple of T's ordinaries in front of the slope. No problem last winter.
Just wondering if the under-and-up entrance really needs anything?