Skunk at the Bee Hive

A few of my hives have the telltale sign they've been visited recently by a hungry skunk, or possibly an opossum. Skunks (and opossums) tend to chew up honey bees and then spit out the exoskeletons in wads that resemble chewing tobacco. It's been cold enough at night that live bees probably aren't being coaxed out of the hives and eaten. Instead, the critter is likely just cleaning up the already-dead bees on the ground in front of the hives. So no harm no foul. If it were warmer and the bees were being taken alive, a common solution is to run a strip of carpet tack in front of the entrance. This helps keep skunks from scratching the hive with their hands to draw out bees from the safety of the box. That could be a compounding problem over the course of several days or weeks, but as long as we've got winter weather, cold temps and a lack of food remain my biggest concerns.