How small do mouseguard holes need to be?

[Rob den Dekker]

Just wondering, as I currently have one of those metal strips with holes in them on and the ladies seem to be struggling when pushing out the dead bodies.

I've heard before of putting nails through a reduced entrance to create bars. Is that a better option?

Cheers!

 

[Black Comb]

Wors OK.
8mm gaps

 

[Goran]

I heard some beekeepers use plain metal part to reduce entrance height to 8mm and have no trouble with mouses. Me personally never used or applied any mousegard on entrance..

 

[Rob den Dekker]

Cheers guys.

 

[Midland Beek]

I think the idea is to lift your hive off the floor on a warm/flying afternoon, and then remove the dead bodies from the floor with a stiff brush or by turning it upside down. Like the warm afteroon we might get in MArch, but maybe not February. Smoke up through the mesh floor before doing this.

 

[dpearce4]

If you can get a pencil thro a hole then a mouse can get thro it.

 

[Hivemaker.]

If you can get a pencil thro a hole then a mouse can get thro it.

What size pencil?

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

What size pencil?

The one I'm using is about 4.5 inches long.

D

 

[dpearce4]

trust you HM. Could only be you that asked a pedantic question like that lol lol lol.

when i had my shop i was told by the enviromental hitlers that. I would asume they ment a standard pencil you can buy from any normal shop, not the rectangle ones that wickes sells or any of the mini ones that come free with a note book, nore the giant ones that are 1ft long and about 2cm dia.

The stupid woman actually expected me to go round the shop mouse protecting it until i said no point as the cellar went straight under the road and there was no way i was going to retarmac it for them.

 

[m100]

If you can get a pencil thro a hole then a mouse can get thro it.

Oh FFS not this again!



MEASURE a commercially produced mouseguard and the hole is not 8mm it is nearer 9.5mm

A hole that size doesn't strip off pollen, not block access for drones etc.

But yes it does keeps out mice but it won't keep out some shrews

Somewhere on here are exact dimensions of commercially produced mouseguards and pollen screens that I provided a few years back.

 

[itma]

Just wondering, as I currently have one of those metal strips with holes in them on and the ladies seem to be struggling when pushing out the dead bodies.

I've heard before of putting nails through a reduced entrance to create bars. Is that a better option?

A "commercially produced" mouseguard from major beekeeping suppliers will be the right size.

Yes, occasionally dead bees do get stuck.

That is why I (a great advocate of reduced entrances for most of the season) think it is better to remove the reducer before putting on the metal guard.
That way, it takes a *lot* of holes to get blocked before it starts to inconvenience (gettit?) the bees needing to go outside briefly.

Periodic poking through with a pencil, while on a 'hefting' visit, will also keep the entrance clear through winter.
My Pains poly (unable to use a simple metal strip) has a home-made variant of a reducer plus row of nails. I've paid particular attention to checking it, but the bees don't seem to have had a problem keeping it clear.


A "British Standard" mouse is believed to be able to get through a wide slot that is 8mm high, but it is not believed to be able to get through an 8mm diameter circular hole. It can flatten, but not narrow, its head by rearranging its jaw ...

/ I suspect that many mesh floors strip off more pollen than mouseguards. I noted that Wally Shaw designs his with an 'inside doorstep' so that bees do not *have to* walk across any mesh ...

 

[user 6228]

tubular metal stands makes mouseguards unnecessary unless your mice are capable of flying or parachuting out of a nearby tree.

if the mice are prepared to tunnel in then mouseguards are not going to keep them out.