Stella's Social Club

[ronott1]

Is Kelly still here?

Kelly has been taking care of Elderly Relatives and has not been around much.

I wonder if She is going to start the Easter Hatch a long?

 

[1muttsfan]

Oh I'm sorry to hear that!

 

[kathyinmo]

 

[Happy Chooks]

Is Kelly still here?

Yep, still here, but not on line much. My mother just finished close to a year of surgery/chemo/radiation treatment for breast cancer. So I've been a tad busy helping her. And now it's ski season, so I'm busy driving teenagers around. I do check in from time to time.

Kelly has been taking care of Elderly Relatives and has not been around much.

I wonder if She is going to start the Easter Hatch a long?

I'm sure my mom wouldn't appreciate being called "elderly".

I'm hoping to be back full force for the Easter hatchalong! I might need some extra help though. Luckily for me, Easter is late this year. But it is February, so I guess I'd better start thinking about it!

 

[ronott1]

Yep, still here, but not on line much. My mother just finished close to a year of surgery/chemo/radiation treatment for breast cancer. So I've been a tad busy helping her. And now it's ski season, so I'm busy driving teenagers around. I do check in from time to time.


I'm sure my mom wouldn't appreciate being called "elderly".

I'm hoping to be back full force for the Easter hatchalong! I might need some extra help though. Luckily for me, Easter is late this year. But it is February, so I guess I'd better start thinking about it!

I know the feeling! I am getting into the Elderly age range too. Next year I will turn 60!

 

[ronott1]

Also, let me know what you need for the Easter hatch a long

 

[Happy Chooks]

Update from what's been going on here.

My mom finished her last radiation treatment on December 31st. She is looking and feeling great, and her hair is growing back in.

On the day before Christmas Eve, the bear took out my beehive. It didn't destroy the hive, it took it apart with precision, and left the one box without honey completely undisturbed. It ate all the honey and almost all of the bees. That morning, I found a dead deer in our fence with it's back leg tangled in the fencing. We got rid of it that day, but I don't know how long it was there. So I think the smell from it brought the bear there. I've had bears on our property for many years (and bees for 7 years) and they have never found the hive until now. Ticked me off too, because that queen was amazing. I have 3 packages ordered for spring, and I will be enclosing the bee yard, and possibly electrifying it. I have seen it multiple times in our trash, it looks to be a juvenile, not fully grown.

I've had a couple of predator issues with my chickens. The first I suspect was a "neighbors" pit bull when we were out of town, as it looked like dog claw marks under the fence. I lost 10 chickens, only 1 eaten, the rest just dead, including my 10 year old Light Brahma Marshmallow. Piles of rocks with the tractor covered up all of his holes under our fence, and he hasn't been seen on our property since.

The second, I think was the bear. The pop door was opening early, like 5am, and I haven't had an issue all winter. I was busy and didn't even think about it. Whatever it was reached in through the pop door and killed 1 male and hauled another off. The reason I think it was the bear is, it carried the chicken down by the trash can where there was a pile of feathers. I thought I heard a squak, but then didn't hear anything else, but I did hear the wagon we use to haul firewood right on the back of the house move. The feather trail went straight over to our fence (keeping in mind we are on 5 acres, so this is about 200 feet away) and the fence was bent. The trash area is the bears area. If it was a fox or bobcat, it wouldn't have come down that far, it would be agile enough to avoid the wagon, and it wouldn't have bent my fence.

So I moved the survivors to the other coop, and purposely left the door opener to open at 5am still, so whatever it was knows it is empty now, and no more food there. In another week or two, I will move a "test subject" (meaning spare male) into that coop and change the timer so it doesn't open until it's light out, and make sure it's safe. Then I'll move a few more and wait and see.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Also, let me know what you need for the Easter hatch a long

Will do, thank you!

 

[ronott1]

Update from what's been going on here.

My mom finished her last radiation treatment on December 31st. She is looking and feeling great, and her hair is growing back in.

On the day before Christmas Eve, the bear took out my beehive. It didn't destroy the hive, it took it apart with precision, and left the one box without honey completely undisturbed. It ate all the honey and almost all of the bees. That morning, I found a dead deer in our fence with it's back leg tangled in the fencing. We got rid of it that day, but I don't know how long it was there. So I think the smell from it brought the bear there. I've had bears on our property for many years (and bees for 7 years) and they have never found the hive until now. Ticked me off too, because that queen was amazing. I have 3 packages ordered for spring, and I will be enclosing the bee yard, and possibly electrifying it. I have seen it multiple times in our trash, it looks to be a juvenile, not fully grown.

I've had a couple of predator issues with my chickens. The first I suspect was a "neighbors" pit bull when we were out of town, as it looked like dog claw marks under the fence. I lost 10 chickens, only 1 eaten, the rest just dead, including my 10 year old Light Brahma Marshmallow. Piles of rocks with the tractor covered up all of his holes under our fence, and he hasn't been seen on our property since.

The second, I think was the bear. The pop door was opening early, like 5am, and I haven't had an issue all winter. I was busy and didn't even think about it. Whatever it was reached in through the pop door and killed 1 male and hauled another off. The reason I think it was the bear is, it carried the chicken down by the trash can where there was a pile of feathers. I thought I heard a squak, but then didn't hear anything else, but I did hear the wagon we use to haul firewood right on the back of the house move. The feather trail went straight over to our fence (keeping in mind we are on 5 acres, so this is about 200 feet away) and the fence was bent. The trash area is the bears area. If it was a fox or bobcat, it wouldn't have come down that far, it would be agile enough to avoid the wagon, and it wouldn't have bent my fence.

So I moved the survivors to the other coop, and purposely left the door opener to open at 5am still, so whatever it was knows it is empty now, and no more food there. In another week or two, I will move a "test subject" (meaning spare male) into that coop and change the timer so it doesn't open until it's light out, and make sure it's safe. Then I'll move a few more and wait and see.

You have had quite a Winter.

best wishes on the new bees.

Woodland is now an official Bee city now

 

[Happy Chooks]

They have outlawed bees? How lame. Even NY has bees.