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 Skunks
are members of the weasel family.
They
dig under foundations and take up residence under homes
or in other buildings.
Skunks
are disliked mainly because of their ability to
voluntarily discharge an obnoxious odor when provoked,
this scent is released primarily in self-defense.
Skunks
can also be a serious threat to successful beekeeping, since
they hamper the development of strong colonies. Being
insectivorous (insect-eating), skunks will raid bee yards
nightly, consuming large numbers of bees. While such attacks
are most common in the spring, they also can occur
throughout the summer and fall.
To capture bees, skunks scratch at the hive entrance and as
guard bees come out to investigate the disturbance they are
eaten by the skunk. A successful skunk will repeat the
process several times and may feed at the hive entrance for
an hour or more to rapidly depleting the bee population.
Colonies visited by skunks may become defensive since skunks
usually return night after night. Skunk predation can be
detected by the front of the hive being scratched and muddy
and the vegetation in front of the hive packed down or torn
up.
In addition skunks leave behind small piles of chewed-up bee
parts. The skunk chews the bees until all the juices are
consumed, then spits out the remains. These remains resemble
cuds of chewing tobacco. Opossums and raccoons sometimes
attack an apiary in a similar manner and the damage they do
is similar to that of skunks. The feces of these animals
also contain large amount of honey bee exoskeletons since
this material cannot be digested by animals.
Skunks may be discouraged by screens or queen excluders
attached to the hive entrance. These devices hamper the
skunk's efforts to scratch at the front entrance and if it
climbs up the screen over the entrance, its belly becomes
vulnerable to stings.
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