PROTECTING AGAINST VARMINTS

 Moths, Mice, and Shrews... oh my!

As usual, after extracting, I put the wet frames on saw horses about 50 yards away from the apiary for the bees to clean up.  They do a great job in just a few hours, and then I stack them in the barn until next season.  

I put a paper plate with paradichlorobenzene crystals at the bottom of the stack, and another on every fifth super up to keep wax moths out. There are other ways of storing frames over winter, this is just the way I do it.  

For those that want to use a moth repellent, use only paradichlorobenzene and not naphthalene (moth balls). Naphthalene is toxic to honey bees and residues will linger in the wax.   

Paradichlorobenzene is available as Para-Moth from most bee supply houses for around $21.00/lb. plus shipping, and as Moth Ice Crystals from Fleet Farm for $4.49/lb. 

The shortening days and cooler temperatures get me thinking about mice and shrews taking up residence in the hives. That won't happen until the bees start to cluster.  

Mice aren't terribly bad because they just make a nest and chew up a few frames of foundation, but the American Pygmy shrew will pluck bees off the cluster one by one to eat their flight muscles. Eventually, the cluster becomes too small to survive the cold.  

Both are undesirable guests so it's good to get prepared for their visitations. Commercial mouse guards are useful in areas that don't have the American Pygmy shrew, but that's not us.  

The shrews can easily get through the openings in most commercial mouse guards so your best bet is to have guards with 1/4" openings.  Just stapling 1/4" hardware cloth over the entrances is sufficient. (If you go the commercial route, verify the opening size before buying.) Shrews climb, so all entrances need protection if  you're to keep them out!

So when to install the guards?  The advice I was given was to get them installed before the mice or shrews get in so you don't trap them inside.  Helpful, huh?   

There isn't any particular date to do this, but when it starts getting colder and flight activity decreases, that's my indicator.  As long as the bees are active, these varmints won't go in the hives because the bees will defend their colony in their typical stinging way. 

Once it's consistently cold, the bees are clustered and the varmints can enter at will.

 - Gerard