[username00101]

A couple of my colonies have obvious signs of shrew damage. Headless bees, piles of chewed up bees. It's definitely a shrew.

I've removed the 1/2 inch mesh, that's obviously not small enough to stop the shrews.

One of the colonies is bleeding headless bees...

 

[Roland]

That will not even stop mice.

Crazy Roland

 

[username00101]

I put 3/8 inch. Instead of 1/2 inch mesh.

 

[crofter]

Even 3/8 is very dicey for a shrew. They are way less than half the size of a mouse. This one was behind the excluder. The gaps are about 3/8". It may have gone in the very small upper entrance. It is flattened in this picture. That is a dime, not a quarter. I have not had any problems with this type of entrance reducer.

 

[fadder]

Shew!! when you said shrews I thought you meant hateful women.
Seriously though that sucks. I am glad I don't have them here in east Tn.

 

[Murdock]

Try a mouse trap on your landing board, Hateful women would do less damage. Ask your county AG Agent about a fix.

 

[username00101]

@crofter have you seen the bees lose pollen from the entrance reducer design you show in that photograph?

Shrews
Put out some traps, of various designs.

I scooped out about 300-400 dead bees, half of them didn't have heads from one of my colonies.

 

[crofter]

@crofter have you seen the bees lose pollen from the entrance reducer design you show in that photograph?

I only put those entrance reducers on after the bees are getting winterized. They would strip pollen if the bees were foraging. As long as they are active they do their own pest control.

There are some larger shrews too but we seem to have the little devils.

 

[patncin]

A couple of my colonies have obvious signs of shrew damage. Headless bees, piles of chewed up bees. It's definitely a shrew.

I've removed the 1/2 inch mesh, that's obviously not small enough to stop the shrews.

One of the colonies is bleeding headless bees...

I only put those entrance reducers on after the bees are getting winterized. They would strip pollen if the bees were foraging. As long as they are active they do their own pest control.

There are some larger shrews too but we seem to have the little devils.

if they want in there is no way to stop them (death to the intruder !!!) I use bucket traps I lost 14 hives to mice one year

 

[Fivej]

Has anyone else noticed a large increase in the mouse population as I have? I live in the country and I am always battling mice, but this year was something else. I really had to step up my game this year, especially after they cost me over 1k in car repairs from chewed wires. To be fair to the mouse community, chipmunks may have chewed the wires, but there was a mouse nest under the hood so I am blaming them. My mechanic said he knows of people that had to total their cars due to electrical issues caused by mice. J

 

[crofter]

Red squirrels can be bad news too. That came to mind from the picture above.

 

[fieldsofnaturalhoney]

if they want in there is no way to stop them (death to the intruder !!!) I use bucket traps I lost 14 hives to mice one year

One sure way, is to use a mouse guard, or make your own from sheetrock edging.

 

[username00101]

The bees were NOT happy about me adjusting their entrances.

 

[patncin]

One sure way, is to use a mouse guard, or make your own from sheetrock edging.

i have metal mouse guards but the hive is wood

 

[fieldsofnaturalhoney]

i have metal mouse guards but the hive is wood

Mine too, or you suggesting that they are eating through your boxes?

 

[rdimanin]

Mine too, or you suggesting that they are eating through your boxes?

I use Apimaye poly hives & they'd break their teeth trying to get in.

 

[Roland]

We use mouse guards similar to Crofter's, and leave them on until dandelions bloom. Very little pollen is lost at the front door.

Crazy Roland

 

[massbee]

This is interesting as I started finding bee parts on one of my screened bottom drawers along with rodent poop. This is a Lyson hive with the regular mouse guard that comes with it. I wonder if there is a shrew?? I just assumed one was getting between the drawer and the screen to stay warm at night or something. I did scrape out the other day with a stick but didn't find anything weird. There's lots of debris on the screen from what I could see though.... Hmm.

Have attached a photo of what these look like for those who don't know what I'm referring to.

 

[JWPalmer]

My hives are 18" off the ground and the bottom board hangs over the 4x4 support by about 4". This is my fourth winter and I have not had a mouse or vole problem yet. I also have two cats that spend the day outside when it is not too cold.

 

[massbee]

Now that I've done some more googling, I'm positive this is what is going on... Mine aren't quite 18 inches of the ground, more like 12. I think this particular mouse guard is probably just big enough for it to get in. It's going to be very cold here the next couple of days, and then warm up to close to 50 on Friday. I'm going to evict that little sucker and install a new guard.