It's taken us a while to reason this out but the hen that has gone broody is actually Starboard, not Port. Port, sadly was the twin RIR lost to the fox this spring.
Starboard, for her part, seems to be a slightly anxious new mom. She's up and down off the nest a lot, which is not unexpected given the hot weather--I should think it's hard to keep the eggs from getting too warm--and appears to feel threatened by the proximity of the other chickens. She calmed down somewhat when I rearranged the tarp over the nursery cage to provide more privacy.
She's definitely broody, having figured out how to make herself look very big indeed, and flew at me furiously when I went to set up her food and water this morning. Most of the times I've checked on her today she's been on the nest, but she's antsy and very watchful. We've decide she may not be doing it exactly right, but we'll give her the 21 days or so she needs to get through her broodiness, and if no baby chicks come of it, well, at least she got some practice.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Crunchy
I like coleslaw, but since my last encounter with food poisoning all that yucky mayonnaise is just too fraught. This slaw is tasty, crunchy, tangy and a bit sweet. Take the time to enjoy the zen of chopping everything. When you're focused on using your sharpest knife to shred a head of cabbage, you are not doing anything else at all.
Crunchy Veggie Slaw (for 2-4)
half a small head of any cabbage, shredded very fine
a small onion, preferably red or sweet, sliced thin as you can
2 or 3 carrots, grated or julienne
currants, raisins, or diced apple
medium tomato, chopped
1 tsp each of whole coriander and whole cumin seeds
apple cider vinegar
sea salt
olive oil
Place the sliced onions in a large salad bowl. Sprinkle with sea salt and about 1/4 cup vinegar. Add the cabbage , carrots, and fruit and toss to mix well.
In a small skillet, fry the spices in a couple tablespoons of olive oil. When they are browned and fragrant, pour them with the oil over the slaw. The hot oil will slightly soften the veggies. Now add the tomatoes, taste for seasoning.
Other good things to add: fresh herbs like cilantro, parsley, or oregano, jalapeno peppers, fresh sweet corn, grated zucchini or summer squash, sesame seeds, any other finely chopped summer veggies such as green beans.
Crunchy Veggie Slaw (for 2-4)
half a small head of any cabbage, shredded very fine
a small onion, preferably red or sweet, sliced thin as you can
2 or 3 carrots, grated or julienne
currants, raisins, or diced apple
medium tomato, chopped
1 tsp each of whole coriander and whole cumin seeds
apple cider vinegar
sea salt
olive oil
Place the sliced onions in a large salad bowl. Sprinkle with sea salt and about 1/4 cup vinegar. Add the cabbage , carrots, and fruit and toss to mix well.
In a small skillet, fry the spices in a couple tablespoons of olive oil. When they are browned and fragrant, pour them with the oil over the slaw. The hot oil will slightly soften the veggies. Now add the tomatoes, taste for seasoning.
Other good things to add: fresh herbs like cilantro, parsley, or oregano, jalapeno peppers, fresh sweet corn, grated zucchini or summer squash, sesame seeds, any other finely chopped summer veggies such as green beans.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
The Next Generation
There haven't been many eggs this week. This morning I finally remembered to check the bantam cage, and whoa, lots of eggs. A clutch, in fact. And then tonight Port decided it was time to set.
So we hooked her up in the nursery cage with a nice big hay nest, and she climbed back on the eggs, making those throaty little gravelly coos a broody hen makes. There are 9 eggs (I think) and it was dark when we moved her but I saw large brown, small brown, medium pinky-brown, and green eggs, so I think that's a nice sampler pack. So--she started sitting tonight, July 25th, and that makes the hatch date on or around August 15th. Wish us luck!
Planning to open the hive this Monday or Tuesday. Beedicca seems to be holding her own.
So we hooked her up in the nursery cage with a nice big hay nest, and she climbed back on the eggs, making those throaty little gravelly coos a broody hen makes. There are 9 eggs (I think) and it was dark when we moved her but I saw large brown, small brown, medium pinky-brown, and green eggs, so I think that's a nice sampler pack. So--she started sitting tonight, July 25th, and that makes the hatch date on or around August 15th. Wish us luck!
Planning to open the hive this Monday or Tuesday. Beedicca seems to be holding her own.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Devil's Walking Stick
I noticed today that in sunny areas a little south of us, the devil's walking stick (Aralia Spinosa) is starting to flower. I think the bees are going to love that, & the hive is nestled in a grove of it. Goldenrod is not far away, either.
Mark cut me some slats to slip between the honey comb bars, and that seems to be working really well.
Planted lemon grass, sweet potatoes, and malanga today, in the back yard. Pulled a couple of air potato shoots (damn things came in with a bag of scavenged mulch a couple years ago & I'm trying to stay on top of them so they don't eat my forest). The calabasa is starting to run, so I encouraged it to stop strangling my bay laurel and instead run across the ground. Picking jalapenos, thai chilies, and cayenne peppers daily. Some lilies my mom dug from the Pontchartrain lot, which James calls alligator lilies, are flowering, as is the dancing girl ginger and the passion vine. Other gingers are sending up flower spikes. The four o'clocks are especially rampant this year, and I've managed to cultivate a few more of the yellow ones so there's some variety. They're more fragrant than I recall. Pine cone ginger (awapuhi) is making cones, but I haven't seen any flowers on the night blooming jasmine yet.
Over the winter, I've decided, I'm going to finish moving the day lilies and glads to the back yard.
That blighted front area can them just have the azaleas, the native petunias, and ferns. Although there is some kind of ginger that's sprouted this year. A lovely bass wood tree has come up, but it's somewhat overshadowed by a scrubby oak that I pretty much want to cut down, yet can't bring myself to kill.
Not really any news, today. Summer holding pattern.
Mark cut me some slats to slip between the honey comb bars, and that seems to be working really well.
Planted lemon grass, sweet potatoes, and malanga today, in the back yard. Pulled a couple of air potato shoots (damn things came in with a bag of scavenged mulch a couple years ago & I'm trying to stay on top of them so they don't eat my forest). The calabasa is starting to run, so I encouraged it to stop strangling my bay laurel and instead run across the ground. Picking jalapenos, thai chilies, and cayenne peppers daily. Some lilies my mom dug from the Pontchartrain lot, which James calls alligator lilies, are flowering, as is the dancing girl ginger and the passion vine. Other gingers are sending up flower spikes. The four o'clocks are especially rampant this year, and I've managed to cultivate a few more of the yellow ones so there's some variety. They're more fragrant than I recall. Pine cone ginger (awapuhi) is making cones, but I haven't seen any flowers on the night blooming jasmine yet.
Over the winter, I've decided, I'm going to finish moving the day lilies and glads to the back yard.
That blighted front area can them just have the azaleas, the native petunias, and ferns. Although there is some kind of ginger that's sprouted this year. A lovely bass wood tree has come up, but it's somewhat overshadowed by a scrubby oak that I pretty much want to cut down, yet can't bring myself to kill.
Not really any news, today. Summer holding pattern.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Pesto
Something funny and delicious just happened when I whipped up a batch of sunflower seed pesto this afternoon. Here's the recipe, as close as I can recall:
a couple handfuls of fresh basil leaves
some sunflower seeds--1-2 cup, maybe a little more
maybe 6 or 7 cloves of garlic
olive oil, more than you intended (maybe a cup altogether)
coarse sea salt
At first, the sunnies didn't seem to be grinding up very well. I didn't take the time to soak them and my food processor is faithful, but very elderly and infirm. I drizzled in olive oil. Then more... and more...and suddenly the pesto started looking very smooth, but thick. More oil...lil more...I ended up with a creamy, fluffy, spreadable pesto butter. Incredibly, unctuously delicious. I'm going to dollop it on top of some slices of eggplant baked with sauce and feta cheese.
Alongside the eggplant, we'll have this salad:
two color quinoa
chickpeas
lots of fresh oregano
a big fat shredded zucchini
a little mince onion
a lot of tasty vine ripe tomatoes
fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper
a couple handfuls of fresh basil leaves
some sunflower seeds--1-2 cup, maybe a little more
maybe 6 or 7 cloves of garlic
olive oil, more than you intended (maybe a cup altogether)
coarse sea salt
At first, the sunnies didn't seem to be grinding up very well. I didn't take the time to soak them and my food processor is faithful, but very elderly and infirm. I drizzled in olive oil. Then more... and more...and suddenly the pesto started looking very smooth, but thick. More oil...lil more...I ended up with a creamy, fluffy, spreadable pesto butter. Incredibly, unctuously delicious. I'm going to dollop it on top of some slices of eggplant baked with sauce and feta cheese.
Alongside the eggplant, we'll have this salad:
two color quinoa
chickpeas
lots of fresh oregano
a big fat shredded zucchini
a little mince onion
a lot of tasty vine ripe tomatoes
fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper
Recovery
Today is day two of the bee equivalent of rest with plenty of fluids. The bees are excited and feeding eagerly on the essential-oil infused syrup. Yesterday, they appeared puny and greyish; today, seriously, they look better: brighter yellow and maybe even a little bigger & fluffier.
With their numbers reduced and since that fallen comb was now empty, I was able to remove it with no trouble. Once that was out of the way I wiped the hive floor with a damp cloth. There were a number of little brown specks that might have been varroa mites. None of them seemed to be moving, and my eyes are just not sharp enough to tell for sure. They're easy to identify on a bee, because they have a distinctive semi-round shape, and proportionally, it would be like a human with a tick the size of a big apple between their shoulder blades--but scattered amongst other tiny detritus, just too hard to see.
I did disrupt a hive beetle or two; one, I was able to squish--the other, two workers tackled him before he could take three steps in the open. Good Bees! They must be feeling better. I saw only a couple of bees with damaged wings, a symptom of varroa and attendant infection.
While I straightened up the back of the hive, I rearranged/trimmed the bars with comb so they aren't touching each other or the sides. Tomorrow, I'm going to stop at the hardware store to look for something to use instead of the bamboo spacers I made: the bamboo sticks are too crookedy for the bees to be able to easily seal all the gaps between bars--too many openings means they have a harder time defending against intruders, like the hive beetles and a couple of spiders (shoo'ed gently--they weren't big enough to trouble the bees, I thought they might help with ants and small roaches) and german roaches I found (and squished). I also took a look at a different bar of brood comb, which did have some capped honey, a few fat grubs, and several rows of "U" shaped larvae.
So, here are the remedies I've employed so far:
Feeding strong syrup with essential oils
Note: Since I didn't have either spearmint or peppermint ess. oil, as is recommended, I tossed a tablespoon or so of peppermint leaves into a batch of syrup, then strained it. The bees seem to like it just fine.
Cleaning the hive-removal of old wax, cleaning the hive floor, and patrolling for pests
Replaced the follower board so there is only one empty bar in the hive space, and there are no gaps between the bars/hive frame (less space, easier for bees to tend).
Dusted the ground beneath the hive with diatomaceous earth, to control the hive beetle larvae. Will need to reapply this often, with all the rain...
I'm planning to make some design changes to the next hive. Here are some ideas:
1. landing strip/ rougher surface at entrance
2. screen bottom. This could take a couple forms: some beeks like an entirely open, screen floor; it's cooler, and mites fall right through, keeping them from climbing back up onto the comb and laying eggs. Another version is a bottom board with a small 'crawl" space and a screen with mesh big enough for mites and shb's to fall through, but too small for the bees. You can then use diatomaceous earth inside the hive, so pests fall through the screen and into a spiked pit of doom, but keep the bees safe from it. I plan to research both to decide if screen is the way to go. I worry about ants and roaches.
3. about 1/2 to 2/3 of the bars should be fatter, honey comb bars. It looks like my bees want to make their honeycomb between 1-1/8 and 1-1/4 inches thick, so I'll have to do the math. Comb plus bee space=size of new bars.
With their numbers reduced and since that fallen comb was now empty, I was able to remove it with no trouble. Once that was out of the way I wiped the hive floor with a damp cloth. There were a number of little brown specks that might have been varroa mites. None of them seemed to be moving, and my eyes are just not sharp enough to tell for sure. They're easy to identify on a bee, because they have a distinctive semi-round shape, and proportionally, it would be like a human with a tick the size of a big apple between their shoulder blades--but scattered amongst other tiny detritus, just too hard to see.
I did disrupt a hive beetle or two; one, I was able to squish--the other, two workers tackled him before he could take three steps in the open. Good Bees! They must be feeling better. I saw only a couple of bees with damaged wings, a symptom of varroa and attendant infection.
While I straightened up the back of the hive, I rearranged/trimmed the bars with comb so they aren't touching each other or the sides. Tomorrow, I'm going to stop at the hardware store to look for something to use instead of the bamboo spacers I made: the bamboo sticks are too crookedy for the bees to be able to easily seal all the gaps between bars--too many openings means they have a harder time defending against intruders, like the hive beetles and a couple of spiders (shoo'ed gently--they weren't big enough to trouble the bees, I thought they might help with ants and small roaches) and german roaches I found (and squished). I also took a look at a different bar of brood comb, which did have some capped honey, a few fat grubs, and several rows of "U" shaped larvae.
So, here are the remedies I've employed so far:
Feeding strong syrup with essential oils
Note: Since I didn't have either spearmint or peppermint ess. oil, as is recommended, I tossed a tablespoon or so of peppermint leaves into a batch of syrup, then strained it. The bees seem to like it just fine.
Cleaning the hive-removal of old wax, cleaning the hive floor, and patrolling for pests
Replaced the follower board so there is only one empty bar in the hive space, and there are no gaps between the bars/hive frame (less space, easier for bees to tend).
Dusted the ground beneath the hive with diatomaceous earth, to control the hive beetle larvae. Will need to reapply this often, with all the rain...
I'm planning to make some design changes to the next hive. Here are some ideas:
1. landing strip/ rougher surface at entrance
2. screen bottom. This could take a couple forms: some beeks like an entirely open, screen floor; it's cooler, and mites fall right through, keeping them from climbing back up onto the comb and laying eggs. Another version is a bottom board with a small 'crawl" space and a screen with mesh big enough for mites and shb's to fall through, but too small for the bees. You can then use diatomaceous earth inside the hive, so pests fall through the screen and into a spiked pit of doom, but keep the bees safe from it. I plan to research both to decide if screen is the way to go. I worry about ants and roaches.
3. about 1/2 to 2/3 of the bars should be fatter, honey comb bars. It looks like my bees want to make their honeycomb between 1-1/8 and 1-1/4 inches thick, so I'll have to do the math. Comb plus bee space=size of new bars.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Dearth
Yesterday morning as I lay in bed watching the garden through the window, I noticed the bees didn't seem very active. Much later, when we returned from breakfast in High Springs, the early afternoon sun was bright, and the air balmy, but still--little activity. I put my ear to the hive: very quiet. Not silent, but quiet.
One of the reasons we drove all the way to High Springs for breakfast was that I wanted to visit Dadant Bee Supplies, to buy a veil and smoker, maybe some of that essential oil mi for varroa mites--but it turns out they're closed weekends. The last couple of times I'd opened the hive I felt the bees were a little testy, and I did get stung once or twice, so I'd decided to get some gear before I bothered them again. But observing them, they seemed lethargic, maybe even weak. I opened the hive commando style. Once guard bee did try to spook me by getting in my face, but the the others were dazy and reluctant to fly.
Here's what I found inside:
Fewer bees. I hesitate to pick a number, but I almost feel we're down to the original population level of about 10,000.
1 bee crippled by a fat mite (looked, but didn't spot any others)
4 hive beetles
All of the honeycomb that had slumped to the hive floor, which used to be full of honey, is now empty.
The one brood comb I pulled had a small amount of honey stored at the top, but the brood cells were empty, empty.
The whole back of the hive, though it has a little comb built on it, has only a tiny amount of capped honey storage. The rest of the comb and bars are empty, empty.
With the honey stores gone, I must conclude the bees aren't finding enough forage and have consumed most of what they brought in this spring. The mite and the beetle suggest the hive isn't defending properly; since a colony's behavior is its immune system, it means weakness.
I have more research to do, but I'm responding as if what's going on is dearth. I can easily imagine the combination of heavy, daily rains and the hot high summer season means less forage and the less flying time to find it.
I put the feeder out with a heavy syrup (1:1 1/2) dosed with lemongrass and peppermint. I tested a few drops on bees last night and they ate it off my fingertips eagerly, but this morning it's been raining since dawn and the poor bees are still huddled inside, unable to fly. I slid a plate with a shallow pool of syrup under their roof--emergency rations.
additional: I checked on them before leaving for work, and saw a couple of workers coming in with full pollen baskets. so they are managing to fly a little, despite the rain. Hopefully they'll start taking the syrup today once the weather clears.
One of the reasons we drove all the way to High Springs for breakfast was that I wanted to visit Dadant Bee Supplies, to buy a veil and smoker, maybe some of that essential oil mi for varroa mites--but it turns out they're closed weekends. The last couple of times I'd opened the hive I felt the bees were a little testy, and I did get stung once or twice, so I'd decided to get some gear before I bothered them again. But observing them, they seemed lethargic, maybe even weak. I opened the hive commando style. Once guard bee did try to spook me by getting in my face, but the the others were dazy and reluctant to fly.
Here's what I found inside:
Fewer bees. I hesitate to pick a number, but I almost feel we're down to the original population level of about 10,000.
1 bee crippled by a fat mite (looked, but didn't spot any others)
4 hive beetles
All of the honeycomb that had slumped to the hive floor, which used to be full of honey, is now empty.
The one brood comb I pulled had a small amount of honey stored at the top, but the brood cells were empty, empty.
The whole back of the hive, though it has a little comb built on it, has only a tiny amount of capped honey storage. The rest of the comb and bars are empty, empty.
With the honey stores gone, I must conclude the bees aren't finding enough forage and have consumed most of what they brought in this spring. The mite and the beetle suggest the hive isn't defending properly; since a colony's behavior is its immune system, it means weakness.
I have more research to do, but I'm responding as if what's going on is dearth. I can easily imagine the combination of heavy, daily rains and the hot high summer season means less forage and the less flying time to find it.
I put the feeder out with a heavy syrup (1:1 1/2) dosed with lemongrass and peppermint. I tested a few drops on bees last night and they ate it off my fingertips eagerly, but this morning it's been raining since dawn and the poor bees are still huddled inside, unable to fly. I slid a plate with a shallow pool of syrup under their roof--emergency rations.
additional: I checked on them before leaving for work, and saw a couple of workers coming in with full pollen baskets. so they are managing to fly a little, despite the rain. Hopefully they'll start taking the syrup today once the weather clears.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)