Silly question about mouseguards!!!

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louiseww

House Bee
Joined
Jul 4, 2010
Messages
361
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Location
Eastbourne, UK
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
3 hives
Help! :willy_nilly:Does this go over the entrance block,or is the entrance block removed and replaced with the mouse guard? Is it too early to put it on now? My entrance is down to two fingers width (my fingers are small) to help them guard against the wasps.
 
Great question. I have just put the mouseguard on one colony, with the entrance block still on, because I am determined to keep the mice out this year after being caught out last year. I was planning to remove entrance block after the wasps are gone. With entrance block and mouseguard, pollen will be knocked off the bees as they squeeze through...and we don't want that, but it would be a disaster to let the wasps in too.

I wonder what other people do???
 
Its to early for the mouse guards and when you do fit them remove the entrance block.
 
It's up to you how you configure your winter entrance and mouseguards.

I use an entrance block with mouseguard on the front of that.
 
Thats fine MB but just be careful that the entrance does not get blocked with dead bees.
 
If you fit the mouseguard with the solid edge lower then there is less risk of dead bees blocking any bees from having a cleansing flight- or remove every 2 weeks to sweep out any debris then immediately replace.
If you put mouseguard on too early then pollen will be knocked off as they climb through and precious food stores depleted . When it gets frosty is the time for these guards.

Wasps are now diminishing so entrances can be back to 4" to help bees
 
Thanks everyone, so now I know! Will put the mouseguards away until it gets much colder. Still a few wasps around here so will leave the small entrance for another week or two. Orange pollen loads coming in, think this must be the ivy!
 
If you fit the mouseguard with the solid edge lower then there is less risk of dead bees blocking any bees

Yes. Even if there is a layer of dead bees it means they can still find the entrance.

I use my entrance blocks - solid edge upper during flying season/solid edge lower for overwintering.
 
Thanks everyone, so now I know! Will put the mouseguards away until it gets much colder. Still a few wasps around here so will leave the small entrance for another week or two. Orange pollen loads coming in, think this must be the ivy!


All depends on the temperature it could be longer than a couple of weeks you dont want to lose all the pollen coming in watch your bees as things slow down down I always put mine on.

Grub
 
I use my entrance blocks - solid edge upper during flying season/solid edge lower for overwintering.

Interesting, when I first put entrance block in to help defend against wasps I had the solid edge at the top, but the wasps seemed keen on just walking in off the landing board. Having the solid edge at the bottom stopped this and I'm sure helped the bees defend.
 
Dual purpose Mouseguard/Bailey comb change

I found pinning the ready made metal Mouseguard onto the hives a pain so I made a few shallow ekes with a 6mm high x 100mm wide entrance on one side using scraps of wood retrieved from some old trellis. Works a treat and is also ideal if one wants to do a Bailey Comb change.
 
Can you just turn your entrance block up side down so the gap is at the top. thus giving space for dead bees and not bother with a mouse guard. Or do you need the ventilation? :cheers2:
 
There are 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary,and those who don't.

Binary's rubbish. I bought '101 things to do in binary'- and there were only 5 things in it! :rofl:
 
Could you post some photos of your various configurations please? I'm a bit confused.
Surely if you fit the solid bar at the bottom with a regular entrance block in place it would totally cover the slit.
 

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