The years end

This was an interesting picture to get. It seems that for all her liking the lime light, she didn't want me to catch her sporting antlers. But it the time of year when all deers that can, grow horns. So ...

From Grumpy and the Dogdeer, Mary Christmas and Happy New Year

Baby Adventures

It seems the babies are flying better then ever. As you can see there is one on the eves of the coop, when I went to get the pictures there were three of them sitting up on top. They seem to enjoy stretching there wings.

Bad Buzzzzz

O this is bad, this is wax moth damage. As you can see they have eaten wax and made tunnels.


This hive was very weak. It went queen less for several weeks and had few bees and no brood. I added a queen and some extra bees but it seems it was not enough to hold off the pest. I will sanitize this hive and frames ad reuse in the spring.

On a happier note, some of the white rocks are laying, I think, here's a pic of one of them, she posed nicely for the camera.

Always something to do

The babies are growing bigger everyday, as you can see. They are now eating about 5 lbs of feed a day for the 25 of them. They have discovered that they like pumpkin, while the adults seem to not eat it, they babies devour it. Yellow squash and zucenni is also high on there list of favorites.

I've recently added some new concrete pads for the bee hives. I didn't like the leaning block foundations so i poured some larger pads. 1 pad will hold the block for 1 hive so it will be more level then before and more stable. The bees get lost if you move the hive a Short distance like this so I move it a foot or so every 2 days. This way they can find there way home and soon the hives will be on new foundations.

the big buzz

Well hello again, It's been a while. The bee story continues. About a month again I sold some frames to a friend to expand some hives and noticed 1 hive was looking a bit weak. I moved it to a smaller box and waited a week to see what was going on. That's the small hive on the right.

After a week i opened it up and looked it over real good and could see no queen. Without a queen the hive will die, bit i did notice some larva, so i decided to wait and see if the larva were capped as brood or drones.

After another week i opened it up and saw all capped drone brood. Bummer! While i was in up to my elbows I opened up the other weak hive, no queen, BUMMER! Time to order some queens if I could find any.

The queens arrived on a Thursday afternoon so i watered them and left them on the kitchen counter for the night. The next morning I suited up and jumped in with both feet for a major queen replacement project. The small white hive went with no problems so i tackled the big hive. Second on the left with the maroon hive on top. I added a queen to that hive and moved some frames around to the small maroon hive. I added the queen in there and i was done. Now to wait.

Today I opened the hives to see what progress i was making. the small hive has accepted the queen and got her released from the shipping crate. So far so good. The maroon hive was looking good also, queen was out and everyone was happy. very good. The third hive the big one has also released there queen and all are happy. Woohoo 3 for 3, this is very good.

In case your wandering why the hives are stacked up like they are, the maroon hive was the weakest and by placing it on top of another hive, the workers will keep both hives working and healthy. So now i need to keep them all alive throw the winter so maybe i can get some honey this next spring, isn't this so much fun?

Fall activities

So, things are going slow this fall. Almost no eggs thanks to the girls going on a feather strike. As you can see this girls has given up her feathers for the cause and is slowly growing them back. Of course everyone should know this is a molt and when they molt almost no eggs are produced. Good thing I don't eat eggs everyday!

I started the experimental fall garden, you can see the beans and corn comeing up. I also have some pumpkin and cabbage and broculli and carrots. Potatos soon to get started. I don't know if any crop will be made but I planted anyway. I worry most about the pumpkin as i don't think it will take much of a cold snap. We shall see.

To help compinsate for the molt, the girls get an extra snack in the afternoon. This is corn supplied by some friends and the are hoovering it up. You can also see the size of the babies, they are the white ones that came this spring. They should be laying soon and the egg count will go up, i hope!

all new again

This little guy is a few days old and was hatched by the same mommy that raised all the post office babies. Another new chickens fun fun.

A garden update: everything drowned. We had 28 inches of rain in 5 weeks and the garden did not like it. Even the peach trees died, they couldn't handle that much rain. So, I'm preparing to start over for the fall.

On a side note: it rained bees today. It seems, one hive swarmed and settled in a small pine tree. I hit the pine tree with the tractor, completely by accident, and bees rained from the sky. For a few minuets is was exciting. I tried to get them out of the tree by hitting the branch they were on, no go. I cut the limb off, it pivoted on the last piece of bark and the entire swarm hit me in the side, woohoo. they moved then to another tree. this time with a friends help, i got the ladder under the swarm and set the hive body on the top. Then I pulled the limb over the box and shook the bees into the box. I left it there for a while to see if i had the queen or if they would move again. It seems after a few hours they were content to stay in the box and I moved it to the row of hives. That makes 4 hives now, fun fun fun.

Growing chicklets

Well, Sorry I haven't sent any updates in a while, it's been crazy. First, we had 18 inches of rain in a week and a half. There was so much water standing around that the chickens were building stilts. You would think a bird that can fly would have better balance but those chickens trying to walk on stilts was a sight. Also, not to be outdone but the chickens ingenuity, the squirrels built some canoes to get from tree to tree. what next eh. As you can see the chicklets are getting bigger. They go all over now. We had several incidents in the last 2 weeks and 2 adult hens were lost. One broke her neck and the other was a predator. A hawk got one of the chicklets also. the next day we heard a commotion and checked and the sharp shined hawk had a chicklet pinned on the ground. I ran hollering and Ginger went running and barking at the hawk and he decided that it was better to leave then face an angry Ginger. He flew up on a branch to see if we would go away. After a bit he decided we were not going any where he flew off and Ginger promptly went roaring and barking after it. I didn't know she could run that fast but she wanted a piece of that hawk.The bees are doing fine as well. They didn't like all the ran and rented movies all week. I don't know were they got the dvd player but they had a party in the hive 24/7. After it dried up for a day they were back to work gathering nectar and pollen. I tried to get a picture of the pollen laden bees but they all arrived before I got the camera. When you see them landing tail heavy they are loaded with nectar, the hungry ones fly more level.

Buuzzzz about the farm

The bee hive arrived today, how very exciting. They were a little irritated when they arrived and were untaped, yes, the openings were duck taped shut for transit, and upon release they were buzzing about.As you can see they have settled down some and were out looking for food already. I added some clay under the hive because this area is a little wet when we get a lot of rain.
And not to be upstaged, big mommie had the babies out most of the day. Here if you look in the brush on the right you can see some of the chicklets napping while mommie looks for food.

All in all a very exciting day. Woo Hoo

everything new

OK big update today and some of the pics may be hard to see but I will explain whats in them. This one is the melon patch, you can see the melons on the left, there's also some potato's and okra in there. The okra is just now coming up.

This is the corn patch, I will soon plant some beans in with the corn to help provide nitrogen.

This is the potato and cabbage patch. The potato's are just breaking the ground on the right so you cant see em. The stuff in the middle is cabbage and broccoli and on the left is onions and carrots.

And last but not least is the amazing mommie. When everyone else wanted nothing to do with the Babbie's, she stepped in and said. I can watch em all! So, she's not the mommie of 23 Babbie's and very proud of it also. Amazing!

babies,babies, more babies

The babies arrived this morning at the post office. I got them home and let em out in a box for the day, so they can eat and drink some before the big mommie test tonight. Well after dark I will put some under the one hen sitting and hope the helper mommie will take to the rest. Tomorrow will be a trying day watching them to see if it all works out alright.

I haven't heard from the bee guy yet today, they had some problems that needed dealing with so I hope he calls soon so the bee's can be added to the mix. Ain't farmin fun!

Babies, Babies, Babies

These little guys arived last night.

This little one is a few days old and momma has em out most of the days, running around and eating what they find.

More babies will be coming on Wednesday, so its spring time on the farm!

Fresh dirt

I broke down and ordered some composted manure and hay. After adding it I also tryed adding some clay to the one small field to see if it helps hold the nutrients in place. These are small fields, 20 by 45 each, 6 all total so I can rotate crops easier.

I also finished the nursery enough to place 2 hens in it. they are happily sitting and waiting for the great hatch day. Woohoo more chickens!

hachery started

with 3 hens sitting I decided to finely get started on the hatchery. It will be 8 x 12 and have 2 bays on the side with a center isle. This way i can keep the outer door shut and stop potential escapees for getting out. I can divide the 2 bays in half if I have to but I am hoping 2 hens will share the same area. But there is a plan if they don't. I can also keep food in the center so it's easier to feed them. the clay is to raise the floor level up some 4 or 5 inches to help keep out the water, if it ever rains again and it has a lot of sand in it so water should also soak thru. I have to hurry and get this done as next week I need to put fertilizer out and the week after is planting week. For some reason this doesn't seem like retirement.

More Tractor Info

I have a bit more info on the tractors, this is for Galadriel, since you asked and I like talking tractors. :) I have a 17 hp Yanmar I've used for years to clear the farmstead, but it is narrow and not well suited for a FEL ( front end loader). So I have a lot of implements that can be used on the newer, well not newer ... NEW tractor. 42 inch bush hog that did all the work on cutting down the brush, box blade that you see on the Jinma, rototiller, harrows, grader blade, post hole drill borrowed from a friend, and a spring rake ( it has spring loaded tines so it bounces out of the way). Now all I have to do is get the work done. I also have a Farmall Super A I'm working on and would like to use it just to cultivate. I can use belly mounted cultivators so its easy to see when I wipe out a section of veggies. The steering is a little loose after 60 years of work. Thats the line up of stuff I use to keep from working to hard.

New Helper

Well I finely junped off the deep end. With all the work that needs to be done and all the moving of stuff, I decieded to get a little helper. Its a 224 Jinma, 22 hp and 4 wheel drive. A nice sized bucket to do the lifting. So far I have the 3rd field cleared off and ready to plant, only 3 more to go and I got it done in 2 days, and no sore back. I should have done this sooner!

Farmin is tuff

This is a short update. I was going to have a picture of the seedlings but, I left the covers on yesterday and being Florida, it got hot in the green house and the seedlings cooked!

So, i checked the alumac and saturday was a good day to start seedlings, so I replanted them all. Some days i wonder if I should stick to chickens as most of the eggs I plant come up as chickens and the rest are ... eggplant of course. j/k

Green House Update

I put the green house film back on today. This time I added screws to the clips to secure them in place. I also cut the door and vent in so maybe there would be less pressure if the wind got inside. It made it thru the day and it was breezy, around 14 mph or so and its still standing. Hopefully this will work and I can get started by starting some seedlings for the spring.

Green House Wreck

Disaster struck today! After all the hard work yesterday of putting on the green house film, a wind storm did it in. When i returned today from the co-op, the film was on the ground. I was not happy! It looks like the film, under pressure from the wind, rotated the plastic clips that were supposed to hold it all in place. Once that started the clips popped off and let the film free. So much for the clips that are rated for a high wind load. The other problem is how slick the film is. This let the clips easily rotate. So, as soon as the wind lays, in a few days, I will try again. This time when I'm done I will run in some self tapping screws that will prevent the clips from rotating. I how this will fix the problem.

On a lighter note, i collected 25 eggs from the very hard working hens. A new record for the daily count.

Green house nears completion

After much procrastination and gnashing of teeth i tackled the green house film today. It was going easy enough when the wind kicked up and blow it all off the pipe. Ginger decided that was a good time to find another place to nap and promptly moved across the yard. I got the film back on and then finished the top. It is surprisingly stable once all the film is on and anchored to the pipe. I used plumbers tape to secure the frame to the anchores which should hold up as well as the film does to higher wind gusts. We will see. Now, to finish the door and add a bench which i will do in the next few days and I will start the seeds for the spring garden. Fun fun

eggs and things

The most amazing thing happened yesterday, I found this baby egg. It came from one of the chicklets but I'm not sure which, most likely it was the astrolorp cross as they are the fastest maturing of the breeds I have.

I've also been working on a compost pile, so i cleaned out the coop and dumped 8 wheelbarrow loads into a nice neat pile. Well, it didn't stay neat for long. It didn't stay a pile either. The industrious hens spread it over a 15 foot circle. I wasn't planing on leaving the compost there but since they already spread it for me, I guess it will stay there. So today I added some leaves, ran them thru the shredder to see what they would do. Oh look a pile of leaves. they weren't interested. Well i can fix that, I got a cup of scratch feed and spread it over the leaves. When i left them they were furiously looking for the scratch and of course, turning over all the shredded leaves. Ain't chickens wonderful!

Eggs

We hit a mile stone today. 20 eggs. The hens have been busy and as you can see, there are all colours. Most of them are large with a few mediums thrown in. Also pictured is some Cinnamon bread made fresh for the coop meeting tomorrow and some shortcake.

I'm having a real problem with the shortcake. It seems, every time I put some in a bowl and add some strawberries, it disappears. Just vanishes into thin air. I will have to keep making more until i discover who it is taking the shortcake. Hmm, maybe Ginger is doing it, I dunno.

New Garden area

Well, this doesn't look like much, it used to be trees and palmettos, but thanks to my brotherinlaw's help it is now dirt. It will take a few weeks to get the rest of the junk cleaned up but this project will increase the garden by 200% making it possible to rotate crops and put more in at a time. something that will help with the selling.

My sister also helped by providing second lunch. It was fresh made shortcake still warm from the oven and some strawberries from the farmers market. yum yum

Now all I have to do is fertilize, plant, water,fertilize again, water water,fertilize again, water, water, harvest, harvest, harvest. O this is fun!

Hard working dog

Poor Ginger, she needed a rest badly after watching me work all afternoon. She settled in for a nap with the super sausage dog. A new toy she has picked up. She likes to toss em up and catch em and roll em around on the floor, very funny to watch as she usually does not play like that.

Winter Harvest

I took a small harvest of veggies to the co-op this week. It doesn't look like much but the veggies and the eggs payed the bill for the fruit i got. So the garden work has paid off a bit.

Soon the green house will be done, I'm waiting for a day with calm winds to put the plastic on and then i can start getting ready for spring. The plan so far is for potatoes, carrots, broccoli, cabbage, corn, onions and beans.

Just in case your not familiar with veggies, that's purple potatoes on the left, yes that's right there purple all the way thru, carrots, very good fresh out of the ground and rutabaga which didn't do so well.

Rooster Fun

Life on the farmstead is quieter these days. Since i got rid of the the Jersey Giant Rooster the Buckeye roosters seem to make less noise. I don't know if it's less competition or what but it seems less roosters means less noise.

We had an incident the other day. The family was over for new years day lunch and we noticed blood on one of the roosters feet and he was limping some. Well, being the well trained roos they are, i couldn't get near them to check him out. He was doing ok that evening and hoped up on the roost for the night. I got a good look at him later when they had settled. It seems he lost the end of his toe. I don't have a clue how but the end is gone from right behind the claw. He seems to be doing fine now. He still limps some but hes rooing around as usual so I guess he will be ok. On the bright side, he stirs up less dust with a claw missing.

The baby's are growing bigger. The buckeye chicklet is bold as i would expect. I feed the flock some corn bread the other day and of course they all gathered round in a large mass. When the cornbread hit the ground, it looked like a shark feeding frenzy and in the midst was the chicklet, snatching bread from under the mouths of the adult hens and ruuuunnnning away. It was very funny to watch, The giant cross chicklets stand at the edge and holler for someone to feed em like they are afraid of getting into the mix. It is amazing to watch the different behaviors of these silly birds.