I took these pics late at night about 11 pm. This is called bearding and is quite common on warm days and nights. It means the hives are healthy and full of bees.

This is the healthiest hive I have. the top box is empty and the bees hang out in it. I didn't get a picture of it this morning but I under-supered this hive so the bees can start making comb. Later this fall I will split it.

I lost a small hive to wax moths this morning also. Very upsetting, it was the Russian hive and it never really took off. I think it had several problems that they didn't recover from.

1. the package arrived in may well after the flow here in Florida.

2. all natural comb so they had a lot of building to do.

3. I feed them honey but maybe should have added sugar water also. the honey was in comb.

So, I learned a few things, feed more and less room may have fixed the problem.

I have a nuc that I split out earlier so I put it in the dead hive. The few bees left in it were smoked and added back in, they should do ok with the strength of the nuc, it was a full 5 frames of bees and brood so they should finish cleaning up the hive and do ok from there.

Not the best of days but things happen and around here things happen continuously!

Well, its been a long time since I did any updates, so I thought I would get to it.

Sugar has come a long way from a chicken catcher to a decent watch dog. She watches the chickens closely, maybe a little to close sometimes, but mostly watches. She likes to sit in the morning and watch for squirrels, which she will terrorize if they set foot on her ground. She has settled down some, minds fairly well and has even learned to play in the water some. A long road for us from rescued to chicken protector. She hates the crows, if a crow comes near she stalks them and rushes in for the kill, misses them but tries so hard. Yep a long road but well worth it.

This is one of the mommies, we have had several this spring, but she has taken them outside for the day. Sugar likes the babies way more then the mommy likes, but so far no chicken nuggets for her.

Here some of the chickens are getting a drink, its been hot here so they group up around the water.
The bee yard is expanding. I now have a hive of Russians, they seem to get on well with the Italians. several hives have gotten hot this year. They boil out when you open the top, it can be startling the first time you experience it.
More chickens, here the Americana rooster and a hen are walking around.

I'll post more later.

new hope

Well I found a new dog today at the humane soc. Her name is Sugar, she's 3 years old and was abandoned and found 2 months later in an apartment. The vet says she's a 3 year old puppy, o joy, but the high energy can be fund to watch except she wants to catch the chickens. I may have to rename her Sugar the sanguineator. Other then that she's the spitting image of Ginger. We will see how it goes but looks like a lot of training. O happy day

A Hard Loss

I just wanted to let everyone know, the Mighty Ginger has fallen.

I rescued her from the pound when she was about 3 and had her for 5 years or so, and while she didnt do much, she was always there and happy to see me.

I will miss you my old friend.