Lorihadams-- hi guys...been busy!

[lorihadams]

Gonna add some new pics to the mix for ya'll.
Here's the garage....the door goes in on June 3

the stronger beehive day one

Goat pics

Here's Aliana scratching her butt on the new "playground"

 

[keljonma]

Sorry about your friend. At least his family will have one less worry with the help from the golf outing fundraiser. You guys are truly friends that are a blessing for them.


Loved the pics of the farm. Everything seems to be shaping up nicely. Don't forget to post pics of your home-made cheese made from your home-grown goat milk.


Congratulations of the new hives! I wouldn't worry too much about the capped cells ... unless they were queen cells. There are a few "feed the bee" thoughts in my local beek association. Personally, I followed the #2 action plan. Do what your mentors recommend unless it is totally contrary to your plan for beeking.
#1 Feed them until they get a chance to build up the first 5 frames.
#2 Feed them until you see they aren't taking anymore of it.
#3 Don't feed them at all (the thought being they will be a stronger hive without you providing feed.

 

[savingdogs]

Your pictures are great! I'm so jealous about the garage, great job! and your goats are adorable!

 

[sunsaver]

How sweet! I can tell that Mom and Dad really love those goats!

 

[LovinLife]

Your place is looking great!

 

[Javamama]

Nice!

So sorry to hear about your friend.

 

[lorihadams]

Thanks everyone....we lined up a babysitter for the funeral on Saturday. Chad will go to the viewing but I'll stay home with the kids. I never met Brian but did meet his family at the tournament. We may take some food over there one day this week.

Today I go to pay my property taxes for the year. $1248, next year it will definitely be higher with the garage addition.

Papa stayed the night and watched me milk the goat last night and this morning and he seemed to be very interested it in.

I also have to go get crickets...chad wants me to get extra so we can take the kids fishing this evening.

I am struggling with a situation. Chad's mom has gotten us both tickets to fish in a tournament the first weekend in June with her down in Wilmington, NC. Here's the issue. I have 30 ducklings coming that week, the garage door goes in the friday we would need to leave, I have to find someone willing to keep our children, our dogs, take care of the chickens, ducklings, and milk a goat twice a day.

Now, Chad called our regular babysitter and she said she is more than happy to watch the kids, birds, and dogs that weekend but she is only 16 and doesn't have a license to drive yet. It would be okay cause our cousin lives next door and if anything were to happen she would gladly step in to cover it. Chad's cousin M has offered to come over twice a day and take care of the goats but she has no experience with goats at all. I am gonna try to get Aliana used to the Henry Milker and if that goes well then I can train her to use the milker and it would probably be easier.

I just think it would be easier if Chad goes by himself and I stay here with the kids. We are going to try to go to Atlanta in September with the kids for a week but we can take the dogs with us and we would just need someone (ideally my cousin next door) to come over and take care of the animals for us every day. By september Aliana will be much more settled and I have a couple months to train them to get comfortable with her and milking.

I don't know what to do....that and I don't know how much it is gonna cost us to get the babysitter for the entire weekend. We usually pay her $10/hr for both kids and $7/hr for when they are asleep. I don't know what to pay her for an entire weekend 24 hrs a day.

I just don't know if I feel comfortable with the whole scenario. Chad means well but I don't think we are both gonna be able to go. We may be able to take the kids with us but then we have to get his cousin to watch them during the tournament and they have never been with her before. I still have to find someone to watch the animals.

It just makes me really nervous.

 

[FarmerChick]

nice pics

go with the gut. truly sometimes it is easier to just stay home
lol

when stuff comes up that is 'just too darn hard and annoying and I feel uneasy' about working around etc....I say 'screw it' and just cancel whatever it is that is getting me all riled up LOL

 

[savingdogs]

I tried to have my own son fill in for me with the goats and it was a disaster. I was just gone ONE milking.

He did things a tiny bit different than me and they freaked out. They would not cooperate for him and I wasn't there to tell him what the problem was. It wasn't until we got home that I figured it out, he changed the configuration of a couple items in the room and that is what scared them! Dumb goats. ......but the point was they did not tolerate a SINGLE change and even having a normal person milk them wasn't okay unless everything was in the same PLACE. The milk was wasted and they did not get fully milked and when I came home late that night I had to milk them myself after all as they were WAY too full still.

I'm not saying that nobody would be more competent than my son, but I really did not expect it to go so poorly because he has helped with them many times and they are very well known to him and vice versa. But changing their routine seems so SCAAAAARY to them.....

If you don't really WANT to go I would not go.

 

[keljonma]

Stay home. Start lining up a solid "who is filling in for what and when and what will it cost us" plan for the vacation. Hasn't your DH heard that farmers don't take vacations?


p.s. I remember you were going to get the liquid smoke for working the bees. When you use it, could you please post how that goes?