# I do not mices, I do not like them at all



## gingerbee (Jul 22, 2006)

Sorry about your loss. I don't like mice either, in the house or in the hives.


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## PCM (Sep 18, 2007)

I'm confused. [ happens often ]
If you mean to use 1/2 in hardware cloth as a mouse block ?

A mouse can go thru a 1/2 in opening quicker than you can say " what ever ",
it can go thru any thing it can get its head thru.

PCM


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## JohnK and Sheri (Nov 28, 2004)

PCM said:


> A mouse can go thru a 1/2 in opening quicker than you can say " what ever ",it can go thru any thing it can get its head thru.PCM


Wow, them's is some little mice!
Sheri


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## RayMarler (Jun 18, 2008)

you better use 1/4 inch hardware cloth in winters as a mouse guard. the bees will go right thru it but the mice get stopped from entering.


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## IslandMountainFarm (Feb 13, 2007)

*That's handy*

I just happen to have a length of 1/4" hardware cloth in the utility building. I was concerned things might get a bit cramped for the bees. You guys really think those little monsters can squeeze through a 1/2" by 1/2" square? Wow, I knew they could get real thin when they needed to but even for your average field mouse that sounds a bit Houdini to me. But hey, if the bees can handle the 1/4" size then that's what I going to use. Thanks for the responses, I'm going to go cry in my beer for a while. After two seasons and letting the hives draw all their own comb from starter strips I was going to get some honey this year.

Oh well, that's life in agriculture. Fix the problem and try, try again.


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## PCM (Sep 18, 2007)

Just thought I would check, exterminters say a young mouse of breeding age, can go thru a opening the size of a dime !

[ I have a motor home that verifies this every winter ]

PCM


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## Dave Burrup (Jul 22, 2008)

*1/2 X1/2 hardware cloth*

They will not squeeze through 1/2 X 1/2 openings, they will run through them!!


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## ScadsOBees (Oct 2, 2003)

Well, a penny is 3/4 inch diameter, I don't have a dime handy but I'd guess it is 5/8.

I haven't had any mice problems since I put on the 1/2 inch hardware cloth. Maybe it makes a difference what kind of mice you have? The deer mice that I've had issues with wouldn't make it through 1/2 inch very easily.

At the very least it will be much, much much better than what you had this winter.

Rick


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## JohnK and Sheri (Nov 28, 2004)

Our mice cannot get through 1/2" mesh. A dime is .709" diameter, considerably larger than 1/2".
Maybe some mice are smaller.
Sheri


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## jdpro5010 (Mar 22, 2007)

MY uncle in 35 yrs, and myself in 6 yrs have never had a mouse go through the 1/2" hardware cloth. So I am thinking there has to be smaller mice out there than the ones we got here in Ohio!


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## papa bear (Nov 1, 2005)

please don't take this bad. did you do a good search before you put the block on. just asking


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## megank (Mar 28, 2006)

The mice in the PNW easly pass through between the top bars 3/8"


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## JohnK and Sheri (Nov 28, 2004)

megank said:


> The mice in the PNW easly pass through between the top bars 3/8"


Yes, they can make themselves flat enough to go through a 1/4" SLOT but cannot restrict themselves in heighth AND width at the same time. A 1/2" wide crack is easy but a 1/2" mesh keeps them out. (at least it does our mice)
Sheri


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## IslandMountainFarm (Feb 13, 2007)

papa bear said:


> please don't take this bad. did you do a good search before you put the block on. just asking


I certainly won't take it badly but I am confused as to why I would do a search before I put blocks on.

Perhaps a little history would clear things up. I'm in a new environment keeping bees after having been out of beekeeping for over 25 years. The master beekeeper I learned from almost 40 years ago blocked down hives for the winter the way I did this year. Worked where we were and when we were doing it, obviously doesn't work in my new location so I'm changing approaches. Came here to get feedback and everyone has been helpful and I'm appreciative.

Hope that clears things up.


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## Kieck (Dec 2, 2005)

The search is a search inside the hive. Without checking inside first, you could end up blocking a mouse (or mice) inside the hive.


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## papa bear (Nov 1, 2005)

thanks kieck. it's kind of like putting a fence around a garden and trapping the rabbit in


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## IslandMountainFarm (Feb 13, 2007)

*Thanks for the clarification*

That's a part of my fall shut down sequence. Never even occurred to me that anybody would lock down their hives for the winter without making sure nothing was amiss.

Nope, that little bugger got in later in the season. No doubt I'll have other challenges in adapting to this new environment but this isn't going to happen again.


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## Joel (Mar 3, 2005)

OK all all you old timers, who said "I hate meces to pieces" usually proceeded by ping pong balls?

Is there any possibility he got in through an innercover with a top cover raised for ventilation?


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## J-Bees (Jul 12, 2008)

I seen a new kind of Mouse keeper outer:}:}

angle iron with 1/4" holes in it or even smaller if ya want.

them Bees were coming an going when I seen that riged up on 7 hives last week.


JB:}


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