Weasel

[colbees]

i just went and looked at my beehive and noticed there were weasel tracks going into the hive, do they eat honey or honeybees? what should i do

[BjornBee]

Holy Crap! How big are your entrances?

[colbees]

in the back of my hive, which i didnt notice before theres a gap where the bottom board and brood box meet so its been getting in there

[Maryland Beekeeper]

Wrap the hole thing in chicken wire, piss around it

[dirt road]

I doubt it's been eating bees. If it did, you'd be out of bees in no time. Probably just likes the cozy spot to nap, and definitely would enjoy any mouse that chanced by.

[lazy shooter]

I live in West Texas, and we don't have weasels.  But are inundated with raccoons (coons to us).  If a coon finds an easy snack, it will be back and back and back.  I suspect your weasel has the same mentality.  I keep a couple of live traps at both of my places for this.  You could probably easily trap the weasel and transport him to another area.  My live traps from Tractor Supply only cost 25 bucks.  In the years to come you will think of this as a prudent investment.  I have one trap that is at least 20 years old, and many old coons and possums it has trapped. 

[danno]

what a great mouse guard!!!     If you want him gone this is what you do.   Get a standard wood rat trap.  Drill a small hole on the dog side.   This is to screw it to something.  Get a small pc of red meat the bloodier the better. with a needle and thread sew the meat to the trap pan.   Take a screw and screw trap to a nearby tree or even the back of the hive so the baited trap pan hangs down and at a height of about 6-7 inches.  Now set the trap.  The jaw should be straight up.  This makes the weasel stand on him hind legs in perfect position for a jaw strike to the back on the neck.   The meat sewn to the trap will make him pull at it.  This is how I did it when I trapped in Alaska.   I also agree with Dirtroad in that he just naps in the hive.  Weasels will eat insects but red meat is way preferred and they have no trouble feeding themselved.

[Maryland Beekeeper]

Weasel might be keeping down the mouse population

[tefer2]

I have never seen a weasel in Michigan. Are they nocturnal creatures?

[BlueBee]

Me neither.  I've seen Minks, but never a weasel.  A Mink is a pretty good sized animal to be crawling into a bee hive!

[danno]

We have all three weasels here in Michigan.   The long tail, the short tail and the least weasel.   They are not completely noctural.  This time of the year they are called ermine and are completely winter except for the tip of the tail and eyes.  Summer time they are brown and tan.

[lazy shooter]

Below is our answer to the weasel.  It's a ring tail cat.  It is a rat catching machine.  I have one isolated barn that has a family of these cats in its attic.  I can store anything in that barn without worry of rats or mice.

[danno]

Colbees   Sorry to hyjack your thread but I have to tell this story
Our old deer camp is a 1950's camping trailer with a 20 X 20 addition.   It is what we call very rustic   About a week before the season we head out there and weedwack all the ferns and stuff growing inside(it has a dirt floor with a few pc's of carrpet here and there) and set about 2 doz mouse traps just to knock back the population.  We then all head out the night before opening day to spend the night.  A few years back what we found was alot of the traps tripped but except for little gut piles they were empty.  They were all weasel dinners.  That little guy stayed with use the whole season and got more and more brave as time went on.  I'm sure that if we had more time we could have been hand feeding him  

[Vance G]

Least weasels are longer but little bigger around than a mouse or vole but I can't imagine having a hole that big in a wintering hive.  I grew up among all three species and you rarely see one.  I did sit in a duck blind one day and feed one meat out of my sandwiches.  The least weasel operates on the edge in the winter.  I have found several dead and frozen under boards or in woodpiles in the winter when they ran out of groceries and luck.