![]() ![]() I have never had a mouse make it though this opening. The ½ inch openings are somewhat reduced in height because I place the centerline of the mesh across the center of the mouse guard opening. They vary in height, but are always tall enough to cover the space between bottom screen and the first box. The openings are the entire width of the hive entrance. My mouse guards are wood and ½ inch hardware cloth (square wire mesh). ![]() For this reason, late October found me scrambling to make more mouse guards to put on a number of the hives. I always seem to be playing catch-up in the construction of these. Or that would be the answer if I ever got around to making enough mouse guards. The answer is year-round, wood-and-wire mouse guards. And even my mammalian mouse guards can’t be on patrol all the time. My farm cats patrol my hives, but not every bee yard has six resident cats. The bees just cannot take being the commode for the furry intruders. When a mouse, or usually two, sets up home in a nice warm hive in the winter the hive will be dead by spring. I admit it: they are cute they are native, but I hate them. The wildlife that stalks my hives is more pervasive, greater in number, and very, very persistent: mice. These yards have either solar/electric bear fences, Livestock Guard Dogs, or very large dogs who live on the property (the latter two are different things, but the very large dogs seem to be working fine with hives in out-lying bee yards).Įven though bears are all around us here, bears are not really a huge problem for me. ![]() More than half of my hives are in bee yards where bears are known to roam. ![]()
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