Mouse guard

[martynmain]

I know this is perhaps a daft question, but I have just bought my mouseguards; do I remove the enterance block or leave it in place?

[Rosie]

I always remove my entrance blocks. Fitting both entrance blocks and mouse guards together restricts the entrance too much for my liking, especially if you have solid floors.

Rosie

[beebreeder]

It can also cause the entrance to become blocked as bees cannot carry out the bees that die naturally during winter.
kev

[martynmain]

That's what I thought - thanks guys!:)

[gavin]

Is there a need for mouse guards at all if you have an entrance block with a small entrance? Mine are not the Thorne's ones so they were just made from a piece of timber with a small piece about a bee high and maybe an inch wide cut out.

[Rosie]

I think the theory is that a mouse would ot have to nibble much from a standard entrance block to gain entry. Having said that I have heard of other peole relying solely on an entrance block and getting away with it. When solid floors were the norm people used to use mouse guards rather than entrance blocks to improve ventilation.

[EmsE]

This may be a daft suggestion and I know it is totally the wrong time of year to be thinking of this, but would it be a problem to put a queen excluder between the floor and the brood box to prevent mice being a problem if they do nibble through the entrance block if you don't want to use a mouse guard?

[gavin]

Wasps may soon be a problem and bees can defend themselves better if their entrance is reduced. However I suspect that queen excluders on the floor are not a good idea. There is usually a big fall of dead workers over winter - wouldn't they be hard to remove and block ventilation?

[Neils]

I leave my entrance blocks in all year round and was considering making some up that would also double up as mouse guards as I don't like the metal ones much and do find that I have to go clear the entrances but I do tend to take them off well into January and before they get too active anyway.

I'm trying to remember who it was who gave the talk, but they turned up with an old solid floor from a hive that'd basically been abandoned for a few years with no entrance block in place and the bees had, over time, sealed up the entrance except for 4 small entrance/exits, 2 at either side wall.