Mice and Woodpeckers at the Apiary
Krankheiten
In the winter half of the year, it is less disease than vertebrates that threaten colonies.
In the winter half of the year, it is less disease than vertebrates that threaten colonies. Field mice and wood mice look for a warm winter shelter with a food supply in hives, gnaw at combs, and build their nests there. Shrews, by contrast, are insectivores and go straight for the bees. A single mouse in the hive is often enough for the colony not to survive the winter.
Woodpeckers, especially in wooded areas, peck holes in the hive walls to get at the bees and eat the ones that come out. Besides the structural damage, the constant disturbance is the real problem: the winter cluster is repeatedly startled, food consumption rises, the rectum fills, and restlessness up to dysentery can result. The damage is often only fully visible in spring.
The intruders can be recognized by gnaw marks and holes in the hive wood, by comb remnants, nesting material, and mouse droppings on the hive floor, by a noticeable smell, and by fresh pecking marks on the hive wall. During a winter check, a glance at the entrance, the bottom board insert, and the hive walls is usually enough, without opening the colony.
Prevention is simple and effective. Against mice, the entrance is narrowed in autumn to a clear height of about six millimeters, for which entrance wedges, entrance reducers, or spot-welded mouse guards with a mesh size of about eight millimeters are suitable. The bees can still pass through unhindered, but mice can no longer. Against woodpeckers, a coarse-mesh net is stretched with a gap in front of the hive, so the birds can no longer reach the wood. This measure is usually only taken once damage has been found.
Poison and traps in the immediate area of the hive should be avoided, as should any persecution of woodpeckers, which are protected as native bird species in Germany. Instead, a calm, well-prepared winter site makes sense: setting up hives stably and storm-proof, cutting back branches that knock against the hive, and not unnecessarily opening the colony during winter rest.