Lorihadams-- hi guys...been busy!

[snapshot]

Hope the babies are doing well this evening!

 

[lorihadams]

Thanks guys, the babies are great! We have been getting prepped for Tyler's sleepover so I haven't been on much. It was last night and let me tell you, 5 children all at once was crazy. We had a 7 yr old, a 6 yr old, a 5 yr old, a 4 yr old and a 3 yr old. I'm exhausted today.

I had to get my beehive set up for making a split, don't know if I mentioned it before but my one hive died from starvation. I am so frustrated. I have decided to forego getting any honey from the other hive this year and I'm going to attempt to make a split so I can have a new hive. They will have to make their own queen so cross your fingers for me that it will work out!

I also have another great announcement. I have been back and forth over what to do about my rooster. I decided after separating him for 2 weeks that I would keep him and give him another shot at behaving. So far he has been doing great so I'm letting him stay. I also wanted to get more hens for him but I decided to try to make someone go broody on me. Well, I noticed this afternoon that my light brahma was missing from the chicken yard. I went in a peeked and she was setting!!!! I have about 15 chicken eggs in one nest and 15 duck eggs in the other. She chose to sit on the chicken eggs so hopefully I will be able to get some new chicks from her! I have a dark brahma as well and I'm hoping that maybe she will take the hint and sit on the duck eggs for me. My neighbor wants some ducklings. Everyone's eggs have been fertile so I know my males are doing their thing. Everyone think good broody thoughts for me!!!

I also rebred both my older does, one to the spotted buck and one to the black buck so hopefully I'll have two more litters(?) of kits in a month.

I got my peppers and tomatoes started in the bedroom under grow lights so I'm really hoping that everything will go well...we are supposed to get snow tomorrow. I made some bee candy to put in there cause if the temps go down into the freezing range the bees won't leave to feed. I put one patty on the third level and one on the second.

Anyway...I'm gonna go catch up cause later I'm supposed to go soak my aching back in BF's hot tub

 

[Wannabefree]

GO BROODIES!! I hope they work out for you lori!

 

[lorihadams]

me too!!! I laughed yesterday and told my neighbor that I had piled up the weeks eggs in there in the hopes that someone, anyone would look in there and go "hey, there's all these eggs in here....I should sit on these" Then today she sits!!!! I couldn't believe it....

 

[Wannabefree]

You talked them into it! SWEET! I may have to try that!

 

[lorihadams]

I'm hoping the new dark brahma will take the hint and hatch me out some ducklings! My runner hens are last year's babies so I don't know if they will go broody or not. The last runners I had went broody two years in a row but runners are unpredictable. I may start leaving some in the runner ducks house and see if anyone will take the hint.

I have to fortify my duck house...last year I found 2 huge blacksnakes in there...they evidently got in through a hole in the floor. I have it stopped up with a piece of wood but I need to get in there and properly secure it before there are any babies to work around. I also need to clean out their tub. It's gross.... they don't even lay in it, they lay on the floor on the edge of the tub. I may take it out altogether and just put shavings directly on the floor after I fix the hole. It's an old rabbit hutch so it is pretty deep in the enclosed part. They love it and it has been perfect for the ducks. Hubby wants to build a new coop that will accomodate the ducks and chickens and have a lean to for the rabbit hutches so they can eat the fall out from the rabbit feeders. I still want to keep that old rabbit hutch cause it is a perfect broody pen.

I kept toying with the idea of getting chicks to increase my flock or going to get some started pullets or maybe year old hens from someone but now I'm hoping I don't have to do either!!!

 

[keljonma]

yesterday was Tyler's 7th birthday and while it did not go as planned it was still a lovely day. He is in a MOOD today and I'm ready to lock him in his room. It is also pouring rain so going out is not an option.

I don't remember if I posted here or not but I lost a beehive last week. I suspect varroa or tracheal mites. i'm gonna take a frame to the meeting tomorrow and I have lots of dead bees for them to examine so hopefully I can get some answers. I'm hoping to get a split from a buddy in the club if he has any more available early enough. For now they are all spoken for but he has me on a waiting list and is giving me some help.

Crossing my fingers that the other one makes it long enough for me to treat them just in case and that I don't lose it as well.

Sorry to hear about the lost hive. Was it the weaker of the two? You should be able to have the inspector check it out. If it is varroa, you should have been able to see the little buggers in the hive. Check some of the pics you took during inspections.

 

[lorihadams]

No, I took a frame to the meeting the other week and two of the "old timers" determined that it was starvation. It was my stronger hive, they had a lot more bees and with the mild winter just burned through all the pollen and honey in the hive. I fed too little too late. No one told me to feed winter patties if the weather was mild so I didn't know. We got a cold snap and they wouldn't leave the cluster to eat the patty I had put in there and they all starved. I'm making a split from the other hive that still looks good. They are getting 2 entrance feeders with 1:1 syrup and patties of pollen and fondant inside for the cold snaps. It's probably overkill but with me trying to make a split they need to be fed pretty heavily to stimulate the queen.

We had a little cold snap and some more snow and my brahma got up off the nest. I'm rotating the eggs in the nest to include the freshest ones. Still hoping that she will go back to sitting once the weather warms up. My bassett hound went into heat so my nights are going to be rough until she's done. She has been quarantined to the porch. Last night we got a storm at about 4am and we had to bring her inside and put her in the crate and she howled for the next 2 1/2 hours. She does great on the porch and Tonka can be out there with her for now but when she gets deeper into her heat cycle we will have to separate them and that will be rough too. She hates to be by herself....she's always had Tonka.

Babie bunnies are doing well and getting fur...I moved the fur on the top of the nest to peek at them and they launched themselves up at me....it was funny. I was like "whoa, I'm not mama...no milk here...go back to bed"

It was funny. Trimmed hooves this morning. They were loooooooong overdue. Tally's looked awful...especially her back feet. I felt so bad. My back has been so screwy I have been afraid to go fool with them and our ground is so soft here that they just don't get the opportunity to wear them down. We really need to get some rocks for them to climb on. Their barn has cinderblocks for them to stand on to eat their hay so their front ones get somewhat worn down but their back ones are really suffering. I will check them again in another week and see if Chad can help me trim them up some more. I got the majority of stuff cut but the pads need to be done and the hooves leveled off again. I figured I would let them be for a week and do it bit by bit so they don't get too sore.

Birthday party tonight for BF's daughter...a hot tub party. It's gonna be funny. Gotta make some doctor's appointments today too. PT wants me to see a rheumatologist again. She said that they have tried everything they can do and if the traction is helping they can do it once a week but I will need to see another doctor for pain management for the osteoarthritis. I don't wanna take a bunch of meds. I hate pills. She said the most important thing for me is to remain active and not to push myself when I start to feel some pain. I am trying to go to the pool at least 3 days a week and it seems to be helping and once I get stronger there is a yoga class at the Y that I might try.

 

[Denim Deb]

How often do you need to break the ice out of the pool B4 you get in?

 

[lorihadams]

We have a dome over the pool...it's heated to 85 degrees so I can swim WHILE it's snowing They take 2 weeks every May and every September to construct and deconstruct it. It can get cold, i'm not gonna lie, but most of the time it's okay.