[reminniear]

 

[tabby]

Looks like a large orange tabbycat!
My favorite!

 

[mailmam]

I love it!

 

[Needo]

Those also work on birds.

 

[msscha]

Awesome mouse guard!!

 

[Phoebee]

I was expecting a picture of a small hawk sitting on the hive.

 

[reminniear]

I was expecting a picture of a small hawk sitting on the hive.

I do have a red tailed hawk in the area, but have never seen it near the hives. And you're right that would also be awesome!

 

[Jon Wolff]

I need one of those! A summer tanager sometimes swoops back and forth in front of one of my hives, snatching bees as they come and go.

 

[fruitveggirl]

To quote an expert on these matters, "I tawt I taw a puddy tat! I did! I did see a puddy tat!"

LOL! That's an awesomely helpful cat you have there!

 

[Phoebee]

We saw a Scarlet Tanager a couple of days ago about 100 yards from the hives ... it would be worth a few bees to get it out of in the open to video.

My forum name is based on the Phoebe flycatchers that made our mountain cabin their home from the day it was built. There are two nests of them within 200 ft of the hives, and I fully expected them to be feeding on the bees. I have yet to see one doing so. Possibly they learned their lesson fast.

 

[reminniear]

The cat in the pic is "Scrappy". We are involved in rescue and this little guy (well he used to be little) came from a low cost spay/neuter clinic where we volunteered. His mommy was feral(from a spay and release program), was very skinny and too young. Nobody realized she was pregnant till the vet was actually spaying her. One of the vet students decided she wanted to take the fetus to class for "show and tell", until it moved. My wife took over at that point, got him breathing, cleaned him up, etc... All the while being told that he wasn't viable and wouldn't make it. I'll leave out the details of feeding 1/2 teaspoon of formula thru a syringe every couple of hours cause he was too little to take a bottle (and many more challenges). However he's now 9 years old and still doing great!
He loves hanging out around the hives. The bees don't seem to bother him and he doesn't bother the bees.
I find it adorable!

 

[Jon Wolff]

Great story! I actually have a cat that catches birds and a son who is an avid bird lover, but he he realizes it's all part of nature (the cat eating the birds...and the shrews, mice, rats, etc. She is quite the huntress). The tanagers have been making a nest every year in our trees for a few years now. To be honest, I don't mind them taking a few old foragers daily. We get phoebes around here, too, but I've never seen them eat the bees, either.

 

[modonnell]

OK, So, i can't find them on Kelley's, Mann Lake, or any of the other suppliers, i have 3 of these i bought, they seem to be defective, a ginger one, a black & white one and a grey one, the bees scared/chased them off, where do you get one of these, I have 8 hives, i am sure just one would bee effective.:scratch::applause:

 

[reminniear]

I can attest to the effectiveness of this style of mouse guard.
I've not had a mouse problem with any of my hives when this mouse guard is installed.

I have found that, similar to new wooden ware, the bees prefer this style of mouse guard after it has seasoned (mellowed) a bit.
I might also suggest some type of lure during installation. I find Whiskas Temptations Mix Ups to work quite well.

So it may not be that your mouse guards are defective, just that they were not installed correctly.

In the case that your mouse guards are truly defective, you could always adopt another from any of the "bee mouse guard suppliers" on petfinder.