This morning's task in the Beelandia apiary was to clean out the egg carton winter insulation I had placed on both sides of the follower boards in the top bar hive, Plan Bee... . As you may remember, this hive had an unwanted guest this winter, a mouse which daughter Eme has affectionately named Bee Bait. You can imagine the mess I found on one side of the colony: chewed up egg cartons and newspaper, mouse feces, etc. And, of course, as I dug further into the debris, I eventually found Bee Bait, fully alive in all his/her furry brown splendor.
Immediately, Bee Bait tried to hide in the remaining paper mess but I persisted up until the mouse decided to take off underneath the follower board and into the colony. I tried to follow but the bees would have none of it. Bee Bait's visit whipped them into a frenzy (i.e. one sting, so I backed off and simply continued to clean up the egg carton mess as best I could, making sure there was no place for the mouse to nest. When the bees calm down, I shall return.
3 comments:
Don't name the mouse! We did and didn't want to catch it, but it has gone too far. It's chewed up too much in the pantry and has to be caught now. The problem is that our mouse is smart enough to avoid traps.
But Daniel the bees haven't named it, and I suspect they will take care of said mouse immediately!
Did you set any mouse traps yet? Victor makes one called the Multi-Kill. It kills mice instantly so there's no suffering.
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