Thursday, December 3, 2015

What Would Do This?





My plan today was to finish Winterizing the hay field and orchard hives like I did the garden hives yesterday. By the time I finished the morning feeding however it was pretty obvious I wasn't going to get any Winterizing done today.

It was frosty and cold but the sun was shining bright and there was no wind to speak of for a change and by 9AM the hives were already showing some entrance activity. Now I could in fact put on my suit and try wrapping the hives that way but it makes it a lot more difficult and much less fun and really pisses the bees off. Best at this point to just wait for another cold,cloudy day when the girls won't be wanting to come out and get me.




At least the Garden hives are finished and they are the ones that are most exposed to the Winter winds. If the ground ever freezes up I plan on moving about half the Garden hives to different locations to make room for the new 2016 hives. My system is to keep new hives near the house and then move them out over their first Winter to make room for the new splits and swarms. So far we haven't had even one good freeze this year yet though.

While I was back working on the Garden Hives yesterday I walked behind my shop and discovered the damage you see in the top picture. Something has eaten the old board siding paint and all from this section of the back wall. It's about seven foot or so off the ground but something really gnawed on it as you can see from the top picture.

What the hell would do that?

I can't imagine a rat climbing up that high.

Whenever something is chewed on like that my first culprit is usually one of the useless old nag horses but as far as I know none of them have gotten out in months. It's way too high for a dog. Maybe the new squirrel that comes up to the yard sometimes? Maybe some type of bird? Perhaps deer, but I think the dogs run them off when they get into the yard.

The whole thing has me stumped. I just can't imagine what would have eaten 100 year old siding like that around here. Whatever ate it did in fact eat it because there are no wood shards or paint chips on the ground under the damaged area.

Got me baffled.

Anyway now I am off to find something else to work on today since bee hive wrapping is out of the question. By the looks of the long range forecast it might be weeks before I get a day cold enough to wrap the hives at this point. All 50's and 60's for highs the next two weeks but I am sure that will change.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!!


28 comments:

  1. I have a stupid woodpecker that used to peck holes in vinyl siding.

    Exile1981

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  2. Exile1981 beat me to it - looks like woodpecker damage to me.

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  3. You guys actually think it's woodpeckers? I have seen em drill holes in wood siding and my trees but that looks like it has been chewed out. I guess maybe it's possible if the woodpecker did a bunch of holes close together.

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  4. Looks like squirrel damage. I think sometimes the gnawing is just to sharpen their teeth.

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    1. Russ - I can't imagine why the little tree rat would go up there though.I rarely see him this far up from the woods and then he is stealing walnuts. hmmmm.

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  5. All the woodpecker damage around here has at least one hole poked in it, that looks like the horse might have done it if it wasn't so high. My horse does some strange things. Could be some of those tractor girls trying to climb the wall, the do strange things as well.

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    1. Sf - To me it looks just like horse damage but like you I think it is too high. I did see some deer dropping close to this maybe a deer did come up here and chew on my building.

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    2. If the horse reared up some it could reach it, I have seen where mine has chewed bark way up on trees. Just tell your mother that the horses did it.

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  6. A classis case of Bigfoot sign.
    Watch for footprints in the area and don't end up like DiCaprio.
    Watch your six bro:)

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    1. Bubba - Maybe that bigfoot would eat one of the horses?

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  7. That is definitely woodpecker damage judging by the way the chips are wedged out, some still hanging on at an angle, would be flicker around here, don't know what you've got in your neck of the woods.
    Jack

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    1. Jack - Well it ain't like there aren't plenty of woodpeckers around here. From little ones to the great Piliatted (however it's spelled) ones. Seems funny that they hadn't done it before as long as that building has been there though.

      Maybe I need to start doing a bit of woodpecker hunting?

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    2. I'm with you. Woodpeckers are really too smart. I have them drinking out of the hummingbird feeder. If I even get close to the back door with the Hatsan, they are gone. You should be able to hear them peck too. Around there, they're protected...shhhhh.

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    3. Extex - Well I hear woodpeckers all day long outside because we literally have them everywhere but I have never seen any woodpecker holes on the buildings before just the trees and light poles.

      I did have one that liked to peck the gutters once. He made quite the racket.

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  8. That is definitely squirrel damage. I warned you to kill them all before they established a foothold. Now all you can do is spray that area with repellant. I use a product called Ropel that I ordered online. You can probably find some home-remedy online maybe using turpentine as a main ingredient. Good luck.

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    1. SD - I just can't see how that squirrel got up there though. I have seen em climb but I didn't think it could climb up a wall like that. Besides that squirrel is like 200+ yards in the back of my field I haven't seen hem up at the house in months.

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  9. I'm guessing rat, squirrel, or wood pecker. If the mouth was any bigger like a horse, there would be scratches above & below the chewed up areas. Best guess: Maybe a flicker or pileated, they both love making holes in houses. Mine included.

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    1. MV - I know they do of course but I have never seen one pecking on my buildings before. Maybe it just hit at the right thin spots and did that.

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  10. Squirrel. They eat eggs too.

    http://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/cooking/squirrel-recipes/squirrel-country-sausage

    Jeff

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    1. Jeff - That one brave squirrel if it was the only one I know of around here.

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  11. I am not an expert but I do not think it is a woodpecker or flicker. Something definitely gnawed it. Maybe squirrels?

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    1. TB - Well this Summer I saw the first squirrel in my lifetime up in the back behind the building that got chewed on. I mean we have never had a squirrel around here before. He travels up the fenceline about 200 yards from the little bit of woods he lives in and collects Walnuts. Maybe it was him but from watching him he ain't that good at climbing trees let alone walls.

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  12. What a lot of beehives you have! We have two, but they are empty because hornets killed the bees last year. I would like to keep bees, and we shall still try, but we are surrounded by farming country which means that the crops grown will be sprayed, and there are a lot of Asian hornets around now..... but we shall not give up! Could do with someone like yourself to come and help us, but you are there and we are here, so I shall just have to ask the Universe to send us someone who can guide us when we get our next batch of bees.

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    1. Vera - That's about half my hives. I have another seven in the back of the pasture/hay field and another three over at a nearby orchard. The ones in the pic are the most exposed to wind though so I Winterize them first.

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  13. 7 feet up? My first thought was deer or boar, but they would never get that high. Do you have moose? Else I agree with everyone else, squirrels. They wrecked my garden and have chewed my wood shed. and stripped our walnut tree of nuts. and then dug my garden back up and unearthed plants to hide their loot. Damn things. When the man comes to sort out a wasps nest I will pick his brain about the squirrels.

    I can see that the deer have already had a go at the apple trees in the orchard. No wire around them. At our old house we left the wire all year.

    The colour is nice by the way.

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    1. Sol - Ya I would say about 7 foot up. I am 5'11" and I took that picture looking up at an angle. I know Mrs.PP had all kinds of issues with the tree rats in town but out here our house is so far away from real trees we never had a squirrel before this year and then I only saw one maybe three times all year.

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  14. Renegade giraffes? I like the way you've winterized your hives. Mine has the protection of a fence, but I need to block off the bottom where winter winds could whip through.

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    1. Leigh - I put 1/2 plywood inserts on the bottom in Winter and pretty much leave em in unless it get's over 105 degrees or I have a mite issue and need to dust. I just cover the brood chamber part with the 1/2inch foam insulation to kinda give them some break from the cold.

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