Guilfordbeekeepers.org

Mouse Guard
I found this easy to make mouse guard while reading some other web sites and thought others may like it as well.

The theory is that mice will not go through a 3/8” opening but bees do fine (bee space).
http://www.thebeeyard.org/

Also I think it was Kurt Bower that mentioned at a meeting that he found when reducers were left on all winter the bees were found around the open part of the reducer.

So my thought was to make a 3/8” opening all the way across. Here is one I made.
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w45/ ... ard001.jpg
I did make it 3/8” instead of the 5/6” as mentioned in the link above, maybe next time I will use 5/16’.

If you don’t have a table saw and would like a few let me know and we will work something out.
Ski

That works fine, but when I make my own bottom boards, I just make them with a 3/8 inch lip for the hive body to set on. No changing needed year round.

Wally, thats a great idea.

The bottom board in the picture is one of my home made units. A 3/8" lip would be an easy change when making more. Could probably run these through the table saw as well.
Thanks Wally,

David and I went Sunday afternoon and installed mouse guards on our hives at the outskirts of Greensboro. We used the cheap and easy metal guards that are commercially available. One mouse experience with a hive in that location was enough.

This is my first year though the winter, I know it has been mild compared to others. My question is since it has been warm out and looking at my one hive there is a lot of activity going on at the entrance with the mouse guard still in place. Is it OK to remove this now or since the one I use is metal with holes in it can I leave it in place but slide it open to offer a bigger opening for bees to go in with the pollen they been collecting?
I did noticed this morning a very large bee on the front entrance that was dead, looked like possibly a wasp so then the fear of opening it up and robbing could happen
Or open it during the day and close it at night?
Thanks,
Herb from Thomasville

Welcome to the board. I'll take a shot at your question.

If you are in an area where mice are a real problem, I would consider leaving the guard on just a while longer, but give them more openings. The mice come in when the bees are clustered and not as active at the entrance. We are rapidly getting to the time where bees will be clustered less and more active at the entrances. If you are using the mouse guard as a form of entrance reducer, I would think about removing it from the stronger hives, but using a piece of wood or pieces of wood the thickness of an entrance reducer to push in or pull out in segments as the bees need more space. My neighbor has never really taken to the commercial entrance reducers and likes to use various lengths of that same sized wood to be able to enlarge or reduce openings based on hive strength.

The reducers will help the bees protect the hive from potential robbers. Most of the time, your greatest danger is from other honey bees and the occasional wasp/hornet probe will be turned away.

Thanks for the reply, I'll go out and open it some while it's still cool out then take a look see this afternoon
thanks again!

Jacobs wrote:Welcome to the board. I'll take a shot at your question.

If you are in an area where mice are a real problem, I would consider leaving the guard on just a while longer, but give them more openings. The mice come in when the bees are clustered and not as active at the entrance. We are rapidly getting to the time where bees will be clustered less and more active at the entrances. If you are using the mouse guard as a form of entrance reducer, I would think about removing it from the stronger hives, but using a piece of wood or pieces of wood the thickness of an entrance reducer to push in or pull out in segments as the bees need more space. My neighbor has never really taken to the commercial entrance reducers and likes to use various lengths of that same sized wood to be able to enlarge or reduce openings based on hive strength.