Ants, Mice, & Small Mammals
Ants, Mice, & Small Mammals
You may get unwanted visitors or inhabitants in your hives. Here are a few of the most common.
Other Pests (Runtime 0:55)
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Ants
Ants are rarely serious pests of honey bees, but some species will nest in hives, especially between the inner and outer covers.
Controlling Ant Problems
Ants and bees are very close taxonomically, so any pesticide that harms ants will also harm bees; therefore, using a more natural approach to controlling them is wise.
Keep hives off the ground and remove tall grass from around them. Placing your bee colonies in full sun can also be an effective deterrent. If ants are a persistent problem, putting grease on the legs of the hive stand is an option.
Raised hive designed with ant-stopping legs.
Mice
Mice aren't specifically trying to build nests in bee hives. They are simply looking for safe, dry places to build their homes in the winter. Our carpentry skills have given them an appealing structure in which to stay warm and rear their young.
A family of mice can do a lot of damage to comb as they build their nest.
In warmer months, bees can usually keep mice out easily enough, but when bees cluster they can't do much to stop the mice. These rodents will set up shop in a lower corner of the hive by chewing through several adjacent combs and even frames to build their nests and will run in and out of the hive when the bees are inactive.
Controlling Mouse Problems
During fall management, entrances can be reduced with a cleat or blocked with hardware cloth (basically a metal screen) of 3 mesh to the inch, as demonstrated in the video. This is even more important on hives near fields or forests.
If you find mice in a hive, chase them away and then remove the nest, block the entrance against reentry, and replace the damaged frames.
If left unattended, mice may expand their nests to house generations of offspring.
Skunks, Opossums, and Raccoons
Skunks love to eat adult bees. They visit hives at night, disturb the colony by scratching at the entrance, and eat adult bees that come out to investigate. Skunks usually chew on bees and then spit out their carcasses in a mass, so a hive entrance damaged by small, sharp claws and with chewed cuds of dead bees around it are signs of skunk activity.
Controlling Skunk, Opossum, and Raccoon Problems
Opossums and raccoons also eat bees and once successful may return regularly. Raising the hives, fencing the apiary, or using some inventive motion-sensing noisemakers are your best bets for reducing the impacts of these predators.
Lesson List
- 7.2 Diseases Duration:
- Stress Diseases Duration:
- Nosema Duration:
- 7.3 Pests Duration:
- Small Hive Beetles Duration:
- Wax Moths Duration:
- Ants, Mice, & Small Mammals Duration:
- Bears Duration:
- 7.4 Colony Collapse Disorder Duration:
- CCD as a Syndrome Duration:
- 7.5 Integrated Pest Management Duration:
- Pyramid of IPM Tactics Duration:
- 7.6 Check Your Learning Duration:
Teachers Info
Bee doctor
- Website: http://www.example.com
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