Mouse Protection

[Heffy]

Hey All

Novice here, armed with a mouse guard and looking dangerous. They do say a little knowledge is dangerous..........

My current understanding is that, bees can defend against mice entering the hive during the ''active'' season, but once clustered for the winter they cannot. Am I correct ?

What are the harmful effects of mice entering the hive ?

When should I apply mouse protection ?

Cheers
Matt

 

[Erichalfbee]

My guards are already on as it has started to get cold at night.

 

[itma]

Mice eat comb, honey, etc and make a right mess of the inside of a hive.
Don't risk it.

Some wait until the flow of Ivy pollen going in has reduced (fearing that the guard will knock some/many loads off returning bees).


The simplest thing is to pin (drawing or map) the guard strip over the entrance.
Some remove the entrance block, to avoid limiting the bees to using only a few guard holes - which has a danger that the bees could become blocked in.
An alternative for garden hives is to keep a chopstick and poke through the reducer+holes when you happen to go out for a look. (I'll be doing this with a couple of Paynes plastic entrance blocks which rotate to give just a few 'guard' holes.)

Don't follow the foolish old advice to turn entrance reducers upside down. This is guaranteed to produce a carpet of dead bees inside the hive.



Some entrances (really really low reduced entrances, or Dartington-style under-and-up) don't need additional protection, but, having a guard to hand (not that they are expensive) it would be perverse not to use it.

 

[Swarm]

Don't follow the foolish old advice to turn entrance reducers upside down. This is guaranteed to produce a carpet of dead bees inside the hive.

Since when? CWJ sell ready constructed OMF with the block fixed in exactly that position.
I'd be a bit reluctant to mention guarantees when talking about bees, not had any carpet of bees in mine.

 

[B Special]

Can you put a mouse trap into the hive ?

 

[BeeJayBee]

If there's enough space for a mousetrap there's probably enough space for the bees to build a lot of extra comb.

Some people rely on single beespace height entrances, reduced to an inch or so width. Some buy mouseguards, others use 1/4 inch wire mesh, attaching with drawing pins, nails, tape - anything, as long as it's secure.

The only thing that doesn't keep mice out is complacency.

 

[pargyle]

The question I have is will a mouse be able to get as far as the entrance with the hive stands I have on my Paynes Poly hives ? There is quite an overhang on the landing board and it's a vertical polystyrene surface either side ?

I kept tame mice as a kid and I kept them in converted wooden ammunition boxes (Yeh ... I know I'm old !) and they could not climb the vertical sides of those ...

 

[drex]

Mice will climb anything. A few days ago our cat brought in a live mouse. I was chasing them round the room and the mouse disappeared. 10 minutes later I felt something moving in my jeans. Ripped them off and out ran the mouse. This was in front of our 80 year old female neighbour who was chatting with my wife. They did not stop laughing for hours.

 

[ratcatcher]

Can you put a mouse trap into the hive ?

so if more than one mouse enters, what do you do? ask him to wait whilst you re set the trap

 

[pargyle]

I thought these mouse guards looked quite useful but I'm now worried that a half inch mesh is not going to be small enough to stop a mouse getting in ?

http://emgoldbeekeepers.com/honeybee-hive-mouse-guards/

 

[Heffy]

Hey All

From what I understand from talking to pest controllers, mice can enter any gap or hole larger than 6mm, 1/4 inch.

Cheers
Matt

 

[wessexmario]

I thought these mouse guards looked quite useful but I'm now worried that a half inch mesh is not going to be small enough to stop a mouse getting in ?
http://emgoldbeekeepers.com/honeybee-hive-mouse-guards/

and if you notice in the last photo...
is that gap on the left hand side bigger than the mesh size?

 

[BeeJayBee]

From what I understand from talking to pest controllers, mice can enter any gap or hole larger than 6mm, 1/4 inch.

They can, but whether they will risk forcing their way through a single gap of that size is another matter. I suppose it depends how desperate they are, and what alternatives there are.

 

[pargyle]

and if you notice in the last photo...
is that gap on the left hand side bigger than the mesh size?

YES ... Not brilliantly well constructed but I have a complete roll of that type of mesh and I figured I could do a better job ...

 

[Erichalfbee]

I left my "bee bag" in the apiary store box for a week and a whole car wash sponge and a kitchen roll have been turned into shreds tucked into a corner.

 

[bontbee]

This greeted my first spring inspection a couple of years back.

Most of my hives have very low entrances (if an entrance reducer is required I use a bottom bar from an SN1), but I missed this one with its "standard" entrance.