The Old Folks Home

[superchemicalgirl]

This coming weekend I'm taking a fabric painting class for 4 weeks. I can barely draw a stick figure so we'll see how it goes. I was told to bring an X-acto knife, cutting board and an apron because the paint is permanent. I have a feeling I'm going to look like I look after I treat the biddies with Blue Kote.

 

[tnspursfan09]

Oh Miss Maddy is so cute. And big!

She's growing up so fast! February she'll be seven. I don't know how that can be when just yesterday she was four!

 

[ronott1]

This coming weekend I'm taking a fabric painting class for 4 weeks. I can barely draw a stick figure so we'll see how it goes. I was told to bring an X-acto knife, cutting board and an apron because the paint is permanent. I have a feeling I'm going to look like I look after I treat the biddies with Blue Kote.

I am with you--I do not draw well!

Let us know how it goes.

 

[drumstick diva]

Oh my, Miss Maddy has grown up, such a beautiful young lady.

 

[Cynthia12]

What a darling photo of Maddy! Don't blink, they grow up fast!

 

[chickisoup]

just thought I would pass this along in case anyone is still paying attention

 

[ronott1]

just thought I would pass this along in case anyone is still paying attention

That is what the experts have been saying. As the migrations starts, the flu will likely start too.

 

[drumstick diva]

Duh, I thought it all had died out.

 

[Bunnylady]

The North Carolina Department of Ag forbade public exhibitions and sales of poultry from August 1st to January 1st in anticipation of the flu popping up with the Fall migration. We aren't even allowed to sell hatching eggs (private sales are still OK; they just don't want large numbers of birds and people together)

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Ron, those look phenomenal. You always make such yummy breads.


I got my act together and got the supers off the hives today. The stronger hive (red) had some honey to extract, and as predicted, the very weak blue hive had not a drop to harvest. It's amazing how well the one hive did with almost no human interaction this year. I suspect the other hive would have done good, too, had they had a queen that was effective.

I got 1.4 gallons of honey from the good hive. Because it's later in the season, the honey is darker and richer than last years (I prefer the light colored honey, but this is very tasty, too).

What method of extraction did you use?
I need to do some but I don't think I have enough to bother taking them to the community extractor an hour away or to buy my own extractor this year.

Nope I got about 12 pints last year, I got about 11.5 this year. That's about what you get out of one hive with a medium super. If our season was a bit longer or my hive was healthier I could get more, but we got a really late start this year and I had to start both hives over again. At least the new bees could still use the frames the dead hive had made into comb, or else I wouldn't have gotten honey this year. It takes a lot of bee energy to make comb.

You should get a hive yourself. It's about 500$ to start - which includes everything that you need. I really enjoy having them. I love watching them go in and out, collecting pollen, etc. My garden does amazingly well now that I have bees (I haven't had to hand pollinate since getting bees) and the local wild blackberries also go crazy when we have hives. My neighbor has gotten bumper crops of blackberries the last 2 years.

I was too busy with chickens all year to keep up with adding supers in a timely manner. I was able to get 2 deeps a shallow and a medium on each colony this year but haven't had the time to inspect in a while. That's always my downfall. I plan on spending the winter building more supers and frames/foundation so I'm ready next year. I've had a couple good years and the rest have been disasters but with all this equipment, I'm determined to eventually make a success of it.

Some fun facts:
A bee can visit from 75-3,000 flowers on each trip which range from 5 to 150 minutes. Shows the importance of taking advantage of a good nectar flow.
It takes 2 million flower visits to produce a pound of honey.
In a lifetime the average honey bee produces 1/12th teaspoon of honey - about 5 drops. Therefor, it takes 12 bees to produce a teaspoon of honey.
Bees eat 8 pounds of honey to make 1 pound of beeswax.
An ounce of honey provides one bee with enough energy to fly around the world. A resting worker burns 0.7 mg/hour. A flying worker burns 11.5mg/hour. I need to learn to fly.

We have a lot of native pollinators too and I make houses for them.

I dunno.... Supposedly you need to buy an entirely new setup every spring, they don't overwinter.

It depends on where you live. Maybe starting with Russian bees would help. They get started later in the year but could take advantage of that heavy nectar flow of your short summers.
You'd definitely need to wrap and insulate the hives. I plan on doing that in winter starting this year. They even sell Styrofoam hive bodies for Alaska.
This is a good read of a guy that has been keeping bees in AK for 12 years.
http://beekeeping.wikia.com/wiki/Beekeeping_in_Alaska
Here's some more good info on winterizing there.
http://alaskahoneybee.com/dev/welcome/

http://www.uaf.edu/files/ces/publications-db/catalog/anr/ABM-00230.pdf


Quote:

Chicka, I know there are several people on the road to my house that have hives, but I don't know any personally. I haven't noticed any signs in the yards of any of those places. I would have done some checking around for you if I had known earlier. I bet there was some at the farmer's market this morning.

There are a couple places around here that sell on the side of the road. The next main street over from me there is a big beekeeper with hives all over north county. He has a cooler next to his driveway with various sizes of jars inside selling on the honor system.

In another part of town there's a stand near a hiway onramp. Again, unmanned and on the honor system.

I don't have enough for selling, really. If my second hive had produced this year, I might have had some to sell. As it is, I ran out of honey about mid-March this year (I had given some honey away last year after harvesting). And by ran out I mean I had 1 jar left for an emergency - ie if my hives didn't produce this year. This morning the first thing I did was make a nice cup of hot tea and honey. Oh, I missed this.
...

I think my hives were strong enough that, had I been diligent at adding supers would have produced saleable quantities.

Bunny, I agree, lots of fussy little pieces but yes the art deco style translates well into fabric.
Had to get out into the fresh air today. I went up into Adam's canyon. It is north of SLC in Layton. It is a VERY popular hike probably because it isn't terribly long (just over three miles round trip) and you get to see a waterfall at the end of the trail. Very nice day to get out and get some pictures.

I always love your pictures and I share them with family.

I just found out a little something from rthe driver that picks up our condensed whey that is now going for animal feed. I heard they were mixing it with out dated breakfast cereal drying it out busting it up for feed.
Now I hear anything from stores and businesses goes into the mix. Pasta, bread, donuts, everything, candy with the wrappers still on. Twinkies and ho ho's, many packaged pastas like mac and cheese ,uncle Ben's rice etc. powder packets and everything. He said he saw five gallon buckets in the mix, I hope they somehow strain them out.
I asked him what kind of animals do they feed that stuff to. He said they told him it gets sent to the beef feed lots......

I remember when I read that dairy cattle were being fed gummy bears that had been overproduced.
I always read feed labels. While trying to buy less expensive feeds, I notice a difference in ingredients.
I'm looking at two labels now. One lists the first four primary ingredients as ground corn, dehulled soybean meal, yeast culture and dried kelp.
The other's first 4 ingredients are grain products, plant protein products, processed grain by-products and roughage products. Makes you wonder.

just thought I would pass this along in case anyone is still paying attention

Thanks for the reminder.

Duh, I thought it all had died out.

It died out with the heat of summer but will be brought back south after the migrants have intermingled in the arctic and then make their way to their respective flyways.
Cold doesn't kill it but heat does.

I'm presenting a seminar at the first Midwestern Heritage Poultry Conference this Saturday. It is co-sponsored by Acres USA, St. Louis Slow Foods and the regional SARE program. There will be various nationally known speakers. The concepts are starting right with heritage poultry, laying stock selection and egg evaluation for marketing.
There will be a farmer's market and trade show featuring rare and heirloom poultry.
It starts at 7 AM and my session starts at 10. It's over an hour from here so I have to get my wife to let the birds out.
I have to decide if I'm going to bring any of my birds to sell. I hate going to those things and bringing birds back home. I think I'll park them a long way from others' birds.

ETA
http://www.silexfarmersmarket.com/
http://heyevent.com/event/oyh6b54anqqtya/midwestern-heritage-poultry-conference
https://www.facebook.com/events/549523405186938/
http://missouribeginningfarming.blogspot.com/2015/08/midwestern-heritage-poultry-conference.html
http://www.missourifarmertoday.com/...ent_a399a366-3b87-11e5-8eb7-5be51f608397.html