Balls are Sheep too

Well, we have embarked on a new training mission. Teaching Sugar to play with a ball and maybe one day herd it around the yard.

The big ball herding is a newish sport from Germany and involve the dog moving the balls one at a time into a goal. All the videos make it look like fun so we are going the try this out.

So far, she has started to push the ball a small distance. theres a whole list of things to learn so this will take some time, especially with her attention span being a little short.

Stay tuned for more ball herding!

Just Things

Well the new year is here and some things are happening on the farm.

First theres a new hot spot so I can get faster internet access. Woohoo! I have a virgin mobile hot spot and it seems to be working good. It's not blazing but it's better then dialup by 25 times or so. I can do upgrades and all.

The bees have had a hard winter. 1 hive is gone, I was worried about it all thru the fall, as it was struggling and then last week I checked it and no bees. This happens but it's annoying. The other hives are doing well so maybe there will be a nice bucket of honey this spring.

I've also decided to reconfigure the farm. The dirt farming with organic principles is not working. So, i will convert the fields to grapes vines and some fruit trees, and add a green house when I can. I will put in some raised beds to contain the soil and so bypass the loss of nutrients the I struggle with now in the sand.

All big stuff but I need to adapt to the realities of farming in the sand.

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.

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