Chickens: May 12, 2012

We went to the tractor supply tail gate late and all of the chickens were gone. They had goats and oddly enough, pigeons. Jim and I decided to join HudsonValleyChickens.com and put a posting that we're looking for specific breeds. We're interested in cold hardy breeds that lay eggs often. We ended up with a black Astrolorp named Sally , 2 Buff Orpingons named Pipla and Berla and an Ameraucana named Joy. Sally lays light brown missile like eggs, Pipla and Berla lay light brown..sort of pinkish eggs and Joy lays these beautiful bluish-green colored eggs.

Sally - Black Astrolorp

Berla and Pipla - Buff Orpingtons

Joy - Ameraucana

We picked them up from a woman, Donna Haines, near Newburgh in a town called Bloomington. She was decent and showed us her operation. When we got them home, they were relatively calm. Sally had feathers missing and Donna said it was from the roosters. The more I see her the more I'm thinking mites but we'll see because the others ones are fine.



Sally seems to be the smart one and understood how to use the water nipples I installed for them to drink. Pipla and Berla soon followed what Sally was doing and ultimately Joy was operating the nipples like an old timer.















They also understood how to get the food from the contraption we set up. The next day was wonderful because when we opened the coop door, they each had laid a beautiful colored egg.

So far they're interesting to watch. I just wish we could watch them more often. While rehearsing a speech for a meeting I was having, they were a good audience. I thought by talking often that they would be more relaxed around me. They were still a bit skittish.
The last thing worth mentioning is that the solar powerd door opener was a SUCCESS! It opens and closes at precisely the right time. We couldn't be happier about this whole experience.

Bees: May 12, 2012

Weather: Upper 70's, Sunny, Overall Beautiful day

It's been a few weeks since we've posted. Although we've been busy keeping our projects Upstate on track, finding the time for the blog in the evenings has been a challenge. In Mid-April we noticed that Hive B had what seemed like the entire hive outside by the entrance. I thought since the weather was beautiful, these were all newly hatched worker bees just getting their bearings.  What we found 2 weeks later while going up to put the finishing touches on the chicken coop was that one of the hives swarmed. There on the honeysuckle bush was a swarm. What luck that it happened over a weekend when we were Upstate.  Jim and I quickly got our gear on, brought up the new cedar hive we bought and a pair of loppers.

We set up the cedar hive where the original hive A was. Jim held the honeysuckle branch with the swarm while I cut the main branch with the loppers. Jim quickly brought the branch with the swarm into cedar hive. We decided to close it while we had lunch and then removed it after they've settled into their new home.

The week after, we checked on the cedar hive all all seemed well with bees coming and going. We opened up the other two hives and surprisingly their honey reserves were full. It was difficult trying to figure out which hive swarmed. Both had honey reserves and both had an ample army of worker bees.
Our purpose was to see if a queen, new or old, existed and Jim spotted a queen in both along with eggs. We felt at ease that those 2 hives were working well. We removed as many queens cells as possible but left the  supercedure cells since our thoughts were that the workers created them for a reason.
This weekend we were working in the vegetable garden and I heard a whurring noise and asked Jim what it was. He then noticed a large swarm of bees hovering near the peach tree and they rested on a nearby Honeysuckle bush in a Heart Shape.

We had the routine down at this point so I ran to the barn to get our gear and we kept to the plan to use the Top Bar hive if we ever got a second set a honeybees this year. We set the Top Bar in a completely new area near my dad's mini-barn shed. It seems like a good location although I'd like to put a more stable foundation to hold it up.

Look how many are guarding the entrance.

We then went to check hive b and c again and sadly, they were practically empty of honey reserves which means they both swarmed.
We found an old saying "swarms in May, plenty of hay" which means that we'll have plenty of honey this year however Jim and I aren't hopeful. We'll see. We're happy because we now have 4 hives which is what we wanted this year.