Mouse damage

[Liam]

Seems my only Nuc to have mouse damage is my breeder queen . The metal mouse guard not being a good option on a polyhive as hard to secure with pins and I guess thats where it failed.

I knew something was up, so on a calm day of 14c I had a look and found the cluster was down to a frame of bees with queen intact. Im pretty limited on options here on what if anything I can do, so any suggestions?. I gave them a shake of nurse bees at the entrance from a very strong colony as a last resort. Obviously this really isnt the time of year to be in hives and if it wasnt a breeder queen I wouldnt attempt anything.

[JoJo36]

Couldn't you put a frame of nurse bees from one of your strong hives?!

[Liam]

Couldn't you put a frame of nurse bees from one of your strong hives?!

I took a frame of open brood and shook them at the front of the hive to avoid to much fighting and to disperse any older bees into the air. I will maybe continue to do this gradually over the next few warmer days as I really dont want to overwhelm the original colony. They all walked in, so hopefully I can boost them enough for brood rearing.

[AdamD]

I have seen a mouse shoot out of the hive; leaving a nest in the super - below the brood box.
If the colony is small and viable, the best option would be to put it into a smaller box - a polynuc - this will allow it to grow quicker. You don't say how many bees are in the hive or of there is brood in there. If there is brood then the colony is still able to sustain itself even at this time of year even in a large box so the chances are that they should be OK unless we get a real cold snap. A few extra young bees can make a huge difference at this time of year.
If the breeder queen is older than your others, you'll possibly notice that the colonies of older queens tend to get going a little later than colonies headed up with a young queen.

[MickBBKA]

Breeder queen down to one frame, how did that happen ? I don't know the details but I wouldn't be breeding from her. Mice wouldn't dare attack a nuc with a strong queen at this time of year, she should be building up by now imho.