Allen wrote:
 
Has anyone first hand or scientific information about the effect of shrews
>on wintering bees?
>
>We had several yards where we had bad wintering and I saw shrews there.
>Coincidence?  I don't know.
>
>If they are the culprits, how does one deal with them?
>--
>Allen
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>www.internode.net/HoneyBee
>
 
Used to have lots of trouble with Pygmy Shrews in the winter. This shrew
is rare in most locations but at least in my hobby bee yard it is common.
The size of this animal is 2.8 to 4.1 inches in total length with the
length of the tail 0.9 to 1.4 inches. The half dozen I have caught have
not been longer than 3.5 inches. The range of this animal is most of
Canada and the Northeast of USA. The way I found out about them was
finding an occasional dead specimen in a dead hive. They do not go for the
honey, they go for the bees, making the bees break  the cluster which is
deadly on a cold winter night, I gather that the shrew occasionally get
stung enough to die in the hive.
 
The way I cope with them is by modifying my entr. reducers (which are slats
with a cutout 3/8" deep by approx. 4" length) by hammering in 5/8"
finishing nails one in each end that touches the ends of the cutout and
then one every 3/8 inches in a straight line in the middle of the
cutout. The reducer is placed with the opening up.
 
No problems have been noticed with cleansing flights. Actually the opening
is free of snow and ice faster than reglar reducers due to the fact that
as soon as the sun hits one nail it will collect heat for melting.
 
Had I not found a solution I would have had to move my hives elsewhere
which I did not see as an option.
 
Viktor in Hawkesbury, Ontario