mouse guard... blocks drones?

[windfall]

If using 1/4" hardware cloth for mouse guard, do I need to wait for the hive to dump the drones before installing?

I have 1 hive that started brooding up drones right as all the others finished kicking theirs out....weeks ago.
This hive still has a good number of drones coming and going all afternoon. Can they fit through the 1/4" mesh? Will installing while they are still around make for problems?

It's been a mild fall so far...heck, it was 82 today which is pretty weird. I think I have some time before steady frosty nights set in, but people keep asking if I have my guards on yet.

While talking guards, Will passing through the 1/4" mesh cause returning field bees to lose significant pollen? I feel like I read 1/4" gets used in pollen traps? I have not seen 3/8" in a long long time.

[Michael Bush]

Drones and queens can get through 1/4" hardware cloth.

[rkereid]

1/2" hardware cloth works also and it is easier for the bees to carry out the dead and the debris.

[iddee]

Mice will go through 1/2 in. hardware cloth. I have a roll of 1/3 in. They do still make it, although it is scarce.

[windfall]

I can get 10mm in monel or stainless but I have to buy a lot of it for the foot or two I want.  Folks say 1/4" works, and I believe them, but I would think it hard for them to drag something through it. I know young mice can slip right through 1/2". No idea if these mice are a problem for hives or just larger mature ones.

[rkereid]

Mice will go through 1/2 in. hardware cloth. I have a roll of 1/3 in. They do still make it, although it is scarce.

When I went to 1/2" hdwe cloth a couple of years ago instead of entrance reducers on some of my hives, I haven't had any mouse problems.  I did have some mouse problems with no protection on the entrances, so I know they are here, just none since using it.

[iddee]

When I was raising 1000 mice and 300 rats weekly, the mice would go through 1/2 in., but not 1/3. That's why I have a roll of i/3 left.

White mice are larger than field mice.

[Michael Bush]

I agree they can get through 1/2" which is why I use 1/4" but I also admit that mice don't seem quite as willing to get caught wriggling through a tight spot when getting into a beehive.  They seem to have the instincts to not want to be in that precarious of a position when a bee might wake up and go after them...

[rkereid]

When I was raising 1000 mice and 300 rats weekly, the mice would go through 1/2 in., but not 1/3. That's why I have a roll of i/3 left.

White mice are larger than field mice.

I guess I've been lucky then!  Where do you get 1/3" hardware cloth?

[windfall]

I will recheck, but the 10mm (close to 3/8") was coming through a marine industry supplier. It was 5 years ago and the 50' roll was min. In stainless or Monel that is a pricy pricy mouse guard! Unfortuantly I sold, gave away, or used up all the extra on other silly little projects over the years.

I wonder about holes 3/8 X1/2. That would be pretty easy to generate with 1/2" cloth folded (danno does this I believe) or with 1/2" cloth and a hieght reducer (if your running 3/4" entrance. All my entrance are 3/8, so 3/8 X 1/2 is what i would get using the 1/2"

Still, it sounds like 1/4 is working fine for people, and also sounds like 1/2 is working most of the time as well.

[rkereid]

Come to think of it, because I fold the 1/2" into the 3/4" entrance, it reduces the dimension down somewhat.  Could be more like 3/8" x 1/2".  That would explain why it has worked well for me.

[Dimmsdale]

I just bought a roll of 1/4" hardware cloth at Lowes for 15 bucks.  The roll is big enough to probably make about 200 mouse guards!  Pretty inexpensive as far as I'm concerned. Done and Done!