Mouse guards needed in the south?

[Intheswamp]

Am I correct in the following?.....   The milder climate down here in the south promotes more active bees in the winter.  Being as the bees are more active in the winter down here do they prevent or greatly lessen the problem of mice bedding in the hives during the winter?  I know that my mentor doesn't use mouse guards and has never mentioned them so I'm figuring the bees keep the mice out.  I just got to thinking about this after seeing folks from the north talk about mouse guards and little to no one from the south talking about using them...or maybe I just missed the southerners talking about them.  :)

Ed

[hardwood]

What's a "mouse guard"?  :-D

It's not so much that the bees are more active (although true) but the mice don't need to "hole up" during our mild winters. I've had mice get in before, but not often.

Scott

[Intheswamp]

C'mon Hardwood, you know what a "mouse guard" is....football players put them in their mouths to keep from getting their teeth knocked out.   :-D

Oh, thanks for the feedback, too.  :)

Ed

[David McLeod]

Never had enough of a problem with mice myself, a least in the hives.  Now supers stored in the shed are another matter.

[AllenF]

I find a mouse in a hive about every 3rd year I guess.  And mostly it is in a dead hive or mostly dead hive.  When you see an entrance reducer pulled out a little in the winter, the mouse did it.   

[Intheswamp]

David, I had a (very) few drawn out frames that I had stored and some mice got into them.  I was more worried about moth and didn't event think about mice.  They didn't destroy them but did chew on them some.   I'm guessing these need to be scrapped...I can't really see storing honey in something the mice have had their mouths on.... :?  :'(  What about using them for brood comb?

Ed

[JP]

I find mice in about 3-4 hives come spring. These were likely dead outs as Allen mentioned. On more than a few occasions I have found dead rats near my hives, very close to the hives in fact. I believe they were trying to rob some goodness and the bees wore them out! One such time I had a really aggravated colony and a freshly killed rat right in front of the hive.

Ed, as long as the equipment is still usable the bees won't mind that a mouse had been in there.


...JP

[Intheswamp]

Thanks for the feedback, JP.  I guess I'm more concerned with the cleanliness of the honey eaten by humans that might be extracted from the repaired comb.   :?

Ed 

[JP]

Ed, if you do have salvageable honey left in a hive that was occupied by a mouse I would just harvest capped honey. I doubt you would have anything worth harvesting though as mice in my experience only inhabit dead outs.


...JP

[Joe D]

I found 1 little mouse in front of a hive back in the spring, he was dead.  Figured the bees took care of him.



Joe

[Intheswamp]

Ed, if you do have salvageable honey left in a hive that was occupied by a mouse I would just harvest capped honey. I doubt you would have anything worth harvesting though as mice in my experience only inhabit dead outs.

...JP

JP, I guess what I've trying to ask is if the mice chewed on the extracted comb would the bees clean it up good enough to use it again in a honey super?  This is for stored comb, not comb in a super waiting to be extracted.  :-\

Ed

[JP]

If they chewed on it and wax moths haven't gotten to it, the bees would clean it up to suit their needs just fine.


...JP

[Intheswamp]

I can see those ladies in their black and yellow striped hazmat suits cleaning those cells out as we speak.... :-D

Ed