Another Day

 

Penny found a turkey egg in the brambles, she is an egg sucking dog.

Yes, that is the new nest box in the background,
and the eggs are in the bag of shavings for the nest box... sigh.

2 Day Hive Check

Day 1: We had just a couple of goals for this hive check, other than the general check; one was to transfer the Miller Queen split to an 8-frame hive, the other was to add brood boxes to Dill and Hannah's split.

Chicken Feeder

Finally finished the chicken feeder I started before the nest box. It is based on this design from Farm Folly: http://wp.me/pHdIL-PQ

I used 1x instead of 2x lumber in the construction, and it seems plenty strong enough, esp since I tend to over build everything. Used the Kreg Jig to attach the front angled panel, quite the handy tool.

The feeder holds a full 50lb bag of feed, very handy, and has a lid that can be locked at night so racoons and other critters can't raid it, esp since the barn is so open.

Nest box

Finished the new nest box for the chickens. Now we just need to get rid of all the random boxes they have been laying in, in the barn. I like easter egg hunts, but not every day.

The plans came from Storey publishing. If I had to do it over I would make it about 3"-4" shorter. The boxes are just to open, chickens prefer something more enclosed. I added a piece of plywood under the roof edge to remedy that.

The box is mounted with a French cleat for easy removal for cleaning and/or relocation.

Clover

You know you're a beekeeper when your daughter OFFERS to mow the lawn, and you say no because the bees are foraging the clover.

A Tale of Two Swarms, part 2

Fast-forward to three days later...

Friday afternoon, I had a migraine (ocular, so not really painful, just can't see) so I went in and took a nap. An hour or so later I was awakened by, "Hon, we have a swarm."
me: "Are you sure?"
hubby: "Yes."
me: "The one we got Tuesday?'
hubby: "Nope."
me: "!@#$%"

It can't be easy, can it? Huge swarm, from our own carniolan hive, has wrapped its self around a t-post in tall grass... oh, and there's barbed wire in there too.

A Tale of Two Swarms, part 1

On the last day of school (the 18th) we were out celebrating with a trip to our favorite game store, Game Matrix, when we received a call from the swarm committee asking us if we wanted to go capture a swarm up near the Narrows. Our first swarm capture! Yes!

We ran home, grabbed our gear and headed out. The swarm was in a large bush/small tree in a front yard, only needed a stepping stool to get to it, but it was in among the twisted branches. The homeowner allowed us to do some pruning, but we really didn't want to hack away to much of the tree as it would have left a large hole.

Forgot to take a before pic, this is after we had gotten most of the swarm out of the tree.

Two mamas

Hannah came in to tell me we have chicks. Chicks on the homestead are always fun, so I went out to have a look.  Two little peepers skittering around followed by, not one, but two broody hens. While trying to figure out who the mama was, it dawned on me, they both were. The two broodies were sharing a nest box and when the chicks hatched both hens claimed them as their own.  So both the mamas walk together calling to them, they eat together, take dust baths together, and care for the chicks together. It's very sweet.

Apparently it takes a chicken village, too.

Quick hive visit

Clover wk 7 & Thistle wk 8

The blackberry bloom has begun.  Carniolan worker on the first bloom.

Clover wk 4 & Thistle wk 5

Bee egg in comb.

Clover wk 2 & Thistle wk 3

We packed up all the bee equipment and headed out to the hives before it got to warm today.  As I started to put on my veil, I saw something skidder. I may have screamed and dropped/thrown my veil on the ground. Below is a picture of what was in my veil... shudder.  Bees, which can sting, climbing all over my hands and arms, no problem.  Spider that will most likely do nothing other than skidder away to hide; scream, jump up and down and possibly cry.  Yeah, I know...

Club Apiary Field Day

Rory says good morning

Clover & Thistle

To avoid what happened last week, Charlie went ahead and started inspecting our hives while Hannah was still working on hers.  I went back and forth between the two taking pictures and adding my 2 cents worth when asked.  He started with the carniolan hive, which we are calling Clover.

Mold in the Hive

Our one colony from last year did not survive the winter. We found quite a few bees head first into the comb (a sign of starvation) on one end of the frame with half a frame of capped honey on the other end. In the hive we found about four deep frames and four medium frames worth of honey. We also found a lot of mold.

The honey and frames of drawn comb will not go to waste, they are added to our new colonies of bees and will give the package bees a bit of a headstart over bare frames. In return the bees will clean all the mold off the frames, it's a win for the bees and for us.

This is one of the frames we put in Hannah's hive, and after one week it is almost completely clean.

A Bee-autiful Day

Hive Check & Package Install

The main purpose of today's trip to the bee yard was to check on the two colonies we installed last weekend and to install a package of carniolan bees Charlie picked up on Friday from Schaffer's Natural Honey Farms.

Hannah did a thorough check of her hive and as Charlie got ready to open our hive she shoved him out of the way with a brutal hip check, almost sending him sprawling to the ground, and popped open our hive.  Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but just a bit, don't get in that girl's way when she is in the bee zone. 

It Bee-gins Again

Hannah's package of Golden Italians for her study grant, from Timmons Honey Farm.

Easter

Spent this sunny day outside building bee equipment. The air compressor and nail guns I received for Mother's Day last year made things go quicker once I remembered how they worked.  Woodenware was purchased from Sunny Bee Honey Farm.

But It's My Turn

Poor Stormy was the last one to get his hooves trimmed, the other goats made a break from the pen and wouldn't let him eat his treats, even though they had already had theirs.

Crystal Web

You know it's cold when you can see the ice crystals on a spider web.