Wild critters and new hives

[OPJohn]

That's not a bad idea. If I notice scratch marks around the landing boards or the base, i'll employ a little counter measures like that. For now, I think anchoring down ratchet straps and tightening the hives up should be the best option.

[Michael Bush]

Skunks lure the bees out.  The straps won't matter if it's skunks.  Skunks scratch on the entrance and when a guard bee comes out they catch them and roll them in the grass.  After the bees stings the grass they pop it in their mouth and lure another one out.  They suck the juice out of the bees and spit them on the ground.  The entrances need to be higher to resolve this, or you put flagstones or something in front of the hive that they can't roll the bees in the grass.

In my opinion, I like to move the entrance higher without moving the hive higher.  They blow over too easily when they are tall and they are too hard to put supers on when they are too tall...

http://www.bushfarms.com/beestopentrance.htm
http://www.bushfarms.com/beeslazy.htm#topentrance