Mouseguard - how & exactly when do you fit it?

[ksjs]

Just been messing with mouseguard (had put it in place but on reading here I'm about to remove it): I've secured it with drawing pins but this doesn't seem quite right. What do other people do?

On reading other threads about mouseguards when do most people install these (if they actually install them at all), mid-November or is it a function of region / temp / wasp population?

 

[greatbritishhoney]

personally....

1. With drawing pins
2. Yesterday

But it all depends on what works best for you.

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

personally....

1. With drawing pins
2. Yesterday

But it all depends on what works best for you.

1. Ditto
2. Last Saturday

 

[greatbritishhoney]

And if you can do the whole procedure wearing a pair of gloves and not lose half your drawing pins onto the ground then you are better than I!

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

And if you can do the whole procedure wearing a pair of gloves and not lose half your drawing pins onto the ground then you are better than I!

or wearing nitrils

 

[oliver90owner]

And if you can do the whole procedure wearing a pair of gloves and not lose half your drawing pins onto the ground then you are better than I!

Easy. Use a magnetic drawing pin pusher. File handle with steel ferrule, plus a ~10mm neodymium disc magnet.

Regards, RAB

 

[itma]

And if you can do the whole procedure wearing a pair of gloves and not lose half your drawing pins onto the ground then you are better than I!

Magnets can help - if your drawing pins will stick to a magnet.

One magnet to hold a few drawing pins.
Another (cylindrical type is good) for pushing in one pin at a time.
And if you drop a few, the magnet picks them up out of the grass ...

(Not all my idea - adapted from a Th*rnes catalogue product, the pusher.)

 

[Cazza]

Use map pins instead of drawing pins - much, much easier to handle.

In the old days mouseguards were screwed in with tiny brass screws - very fiddly indeed and always given to me to do as "the apprentice."

Cazza

 

[Erichalfbee]

The mouseguard on the wooden hive is attached with a coupe of screws into the box. The poly hives have made to measure ones (cut down) slotted into where the entrance reducers fit.
They went on a couple of weeks ago when the nights started getting cold.
The hives sit in a "mouse heaven" field so I have to be prepared.

 

[ksjs]

personally....

1. With drawing pins
2. Yesterday

But it all depends on what works best for you.

Thanks all for replies. Seems like I was on the money with the drawing pins but the map pins is a step forward maybe.

Everybody seems a bit earlier with the guard than I would have expected based on other threads and fact that wasps are still knocking around occasionally.

I'm pretty sure I did lose quite a chunk of one frame to robbing and I think the colony has just about enough stores so I'm not going to risk anything and will introduce guard in mid-November.

 

[greatbritishhoney]

Everybody seems a bit earlier with the guard than I would have expected based on other threads and fact that wasps are still knocking around occasionally.

.

Not many wasps left round here, and I knew this week would be the only chance I would get to do it for a few weeks.

 

[oliver90owner]

Everybody'

Some, maybe, but certainly not everybody!

I am not paranoid about mice (some seem to be), I don't just have the one or two colonies (so I won't be losing all or even 50% with a mouse problem) in the unlikely situation of a mouse getting in and staying in (not all been mouse-guarded always but never yet had a mouse in a hive over winter). Some may have a history of mouse trouble and need to act earlier tham most. Depends on where in the country you are situated, too.

It will happen, I daresay, if I give them enough opportunity over a long enough period of time, and, until yesterday, the bees were fairly active. They may now be confined to the hive for a few days but will not necessarily be clustering, so would still sense intruders.

That will be particularly the case where the bees are still around the lower parts of the hive - the nadir type may be more likely to get unwanted fauna due to the bees being around the nest not their stores - perhaps yet another reason why the bees store their winter food reserves above the nest, naturally.

Poly hives will be far more active, (less clustered) than overly large timber hives with little insulation. I noted this, last winter, in November (was that officially winter?) when the bees were still on the poly nuc floor, even in late November.

RAB

 

[Nose Ma]

Thanks all for replies. Seems like I was on the money with the drawing pins but the map pins is a step forward maybe.

The supplier beginning with T does produce a metal mouseguard and two little metal fixing brackets. You permanently mount the brackets either side of the brood box, and then slot the mouseguard in/pull it out.

I have no idea how more or less fiddly than pins it would be, but it sounds (in theory at least) to be easier to do, once set up. As it was many times the price of a usual one, I went the cheap way. Pay your money, make your choice...

 

[drstitson]

"The supplier beginning with T does produce a metal mouseguard and two little metal fixing brackets. You permanently mount the brackets either side of the brood box, and then slot the mouseguard in/pull it out.

I have no idea how more or less fiddly than pins it would be, but it sounds (in theory at least) to be easier to do, once set up. As it was many times the price of a usual one, I went the cheap way. Pay your money, make your choice..."

these are really great when fitted - easy to slot in the guard or remove without disturbing bees. can be propped open with pieces of twig then closed simply.

my only issue as mentioned elsewhere is that on nationals with flush floors you would seem to either need to attache to both floor and brood box OR put a couple of nails along the front edge of the floor to catch the guard. on my dadants with porches the extended floor stops the "gate" dropping out.

 

[itma]

"The supplier beginning with T does produce a metal mouseguard and two little metal fixing brackets. You permanently mount the brackets either side of the brood box, and then slot the mouseguard in/pull it out. ..."

these are really great when fitted - easy to slot in the guard or remove without disturbing bees. can be propped open with pieces of twig then closed simply.

my only issue as mentioned elsewhere is that on nationals with flush floors you would seem to either need to attache to both floor and brood box OR put a couple of nails along the front edge of the floor to catch the guard. on my dadants with porches the extended floor stops the "gate" dropping out.

The £4 (or £4.50 'ventilator') version, according to T's catalogue has a "stop" at one end of each fixing bracket, and "the lug of the strip locates on this stop when slid in from the top. It therefore hangs in front of the floor entrance. Suitable only for National Hives."

So, as I read it, the current model, correctly installed, does not need a porch, extended floor or nails to rest on. Exactly as illustrated in the catalogue.

Doc, has yours not got that 'stop', or doesn't it work? (Or did you maybe fit it before reading the instructions?)

 

[For want of a better word]

I have just one plastic mouse guard that fits in the slider for a WBC..... no idea where it came from..... could do with some more....

No wonder bees naturally nest in hollow trees... away from mice, voles, badgers, cats rats,deer, foxes,woodpeckers...... and man!!!????????????????

 

[Susan1]

I used little screws and screwed them in. This took me ages as was wearing my gloves all the time. Wish I had read this post first!!!!

 

[buzz bee]

I put mine on at the weekend, lost loads of drawing pins and the bees were not too amused by the extended fiddling I was doing. I only ever remember It's difficult when it is too late. I'm definitely asking Santa for one of those magnetic drawing pin pushers this year.

 

[MuswellMetro]

i punch a couple of holes in the mouseguard and use large head mapping pins

still bringing in a bit of polen here ,so they will go on in about two weeks but depends on weather

 

[melon]

I use the slot in mouseguards from Th's, and they are great for ease, once the 'metal catches' have been screwed in. You do have to be careful that they are tight to the wall, otherwise I think mice would be able to get in in the middle of the guard. It is so much easier to lift the mouseguard and remove and dead bees from the floor and slot it back again. I used to struggle with drawing pins in gloves, and this way is much easier. You can also use the ventilator side to keep the bees in if you need to move them.