Getting the bees ready for fall and the coming cold weather...

We are underway preparing the bees by feeding them daily, we are using lots of sugar!

 Today I took the final "Super" (the small box on top) off the last hive which was our strongest and overwintered hive...

they had lots of propolis gluing the hive together. This is a Queen Excluder which had to come off...

I inspected the hive and found them to have lots of pollen and honey reserves for the upcoming cold season...

and I even got a great shot of one of my queens. Look at her attendants watch over her, the hive was on alert because of my presence...

and last "The little Hive that could". If you go back on our blog to the spring, this hive was from a split that was done from an Observation Hive I take care of at the Nature Center where I work. I did a total of three splits and combined from that hive netting a very strong hive. This hive is very promising for the winter and has done quite well. The queen is strong and has plenty of brood as well as them having lots of honey reserves. We will put the Candy Boards on in December which provides another food source and hope that our "girls" get thru the cold season until next year. This has been by far our best honey production season. I have learned well from these creatures that continue to amaze me...

Blessed Autumn Days are here!

It's official, those wonderful days of Autumn are upon us! I found this old file picture of our Yorkie, Zoe on a fall day looking out over our pumpkins. My favorite time of year and my favorite things...pumpkins, scarecrows, simmering cider, apple and pumpkin pie, fall leaves, the crisp smell in the air, hoodies, festivals and fairs, autumn walks, the smell of wood burning, spinning and knitting, and the feeling of home...

Chillin' on the last day of summer..

 

Well we have reached the official end of summer. I was out taking pictures of some of our Alpacas for an upcoming event and had to share! "Cyrus" on the left and "Royal" on the right just chillaxin" on this last day of summer. Hail and farewell to one of the hottest summers on record, we welcome fall with open arms...

A Rose update!

Well off "Rose" went to the Vet today and she was none to happy!

She went to see Dr Carlson and I was very worried about her prognosis but my worries were turned to optimism by the Vet and his staff. He stitched her uterus back into place and did not see any form of infection! However, "Rose" is retired, she will never lamb again and of course this is the first time he had seen a prolapse from a sheep that was not even pregnant! She will live her life out here on our little farm and already has a legacy of a daughter and a granddaughter, our white little ewe, "Daisy".

Poor Rose

 Poor Rose has prolapsed and we have tried everything!

 Excuse the quality of this picture but you can see the problem is clear...

we have tried everything to keep her tucked back in, even duct tape! I have consulted with other Sheperdess' as well as a Veterinarian. They all gave me advice but the over all consensus is, this is very abnormal to prolapse when not even pregnant. So it looks like Rose is retiring if we can get her through this and keep her healthy. Everything I have read points to being overweight (which she is!), genetics, selenium deficiency and a whole list of possibilities. So hopefully she will go in tomorrow for a tack or possible amputation of the uterus all together and be done with it. It is breaking my heart and she is so stressed out from me catching her everyday, giving her antibiotics and checking her. My poor Rose...

Off to the Mill!

Okay, I admit it, I am a fiber hoarder! Over the past two years I have just been stashing away my alpaca fiber and "Babydoll" sheep fleeces. I still had lots from years prior to spin. Our son was moving back home and I had to make room for his return so I took every bag out on the deck...

went thru each and every one of them...

 pulled out my trusty screens (that I got at the dump!)

and began skirting the fleeces...

 had to decide who was going to the Alpaca fiber bank and who was going to the mill...

just look at the crimp in this picture to the right and the one down to the left
...wow!

I drooled over their beauty ...


and managed to get all of them into 3 large boxes. There was a lot of decompression going on! So off to the mills they went yesterday, the next time I see them they will be beautiful.

Honeybees making Propolis...amazing!

I was lucky enough to come across this amazing find the other day, bees collecting to make Propolis!

At the base of a tree, where it has an opening I saw a bunch of honeybees busy at work collecting.

I had only read in books but never actually witnessed the process of how they do it. Bee Propolis is a substance made by the honeybee that provides protection against harmful bacteria, viruses and fungi. Propolis is plant resin collected by bees from trees and plants for use in the hive. It acts a a glue, they seal everything with this substance which is usually an orange resin type substance making hard at times to even get the hive open. The bees mix in substances derived from pollen and active enzymes to form a potent protection for their hive.
I must say I feel blessed to have seen this for myself. We all need to take a walk sometimes and see what nature is showing in today's matinee'.

My Textile show treasures!

Over the past couple of days a local Historical Society was holding a Textile Show. I bought these cool assorted buttons...

 and went home and sewed some onto this bag that I knitted adding some Alpaca, felted and added a zipper...

I picked up bags of threads in many colors, unused as well as dyes...

and then I spotted these, headbands and bracelets that were calling for beautiful handspun yarns to be wrapped around them in wonderful glory. I love this time of year, I come alive with inspiration and creativity! The possibilities are endless!

Cooler temps spark creative inspiration

 The summer was so hot this year, it was hard to get into any projects and hard for me to stay inside in the nice weather. These two spools of yarn have sat on my wheel all summer...

 numerous knitted bags awaiting zippers to be sewn into them...

needle felted pictures ready to go into frames...

and a pile of fiber and wool to be spun. I must say that I bid ado to August and the unofficial end of summer. I look forward to getting back to my projects, awakening my creative side and as I turn the calender into September, the cooler temperatures, and all my favorite things like country fairs, apple picking, pumpkins (which I will be harvesting), cider, roasting a chicken in the oven, hoodies, the smell of fall on a crisp day, and the beautiful colors of the trees. The turn of the wheel of the year will bring us back to this time next year once again...

Feeding the bees!

 The end of August brings cooler temperatures and the flow of nectar begins to decline. This is the time to start feeding our bees sugar water and Honey Bee Healthy which has various herbal oils to promote good health.

When feeding we get other pollinators who are not received well by our honeybees. If you look very close at the blur in the photo, it is actually a honeybee and a yellow jacket fighting. Honeybees are tough little creatures and everyday when I go up to get the feeders I find some dead yellow jackets, don't mess with my girls!

Hhaaayyy!

The end of August signals second cut hay and the need to store up for the winter ahead. We save the money from the sale of the lambs just for our winter supply. This year we have a helper, our son Timmy!

 The truck was loaded and took three trips to move 100 bales of second cut hay. Our Alpacas are especially fussy about what they will eat, only the best for them!

We unloaded and were able to store 60 bales in our newly built hay storage area...

 the lamb birthing area acts as an over flow area for storing hay.

The end of the summer spells hay storage for us for the long cold winter ahead. So for now we have some hay to get us through. With my summer chores and prepartion coming to a close, I may just be able to get back to some spinning and knitting!

Chick update: 3+ weeks old

 Lately I have been getting a lot of questions about the little chicks we rescued unclaimed at a Post Office 3 weeks ago...

 They have more than doubled in size and are eating us out of house and home...

and this guy, I think he might be the rooster! Always in my face and right up front wanting to know what I am doing...

I went on the website from the hatchery where they came from, there are numerous possibilities of the breeds they can be:








•New Hampshire Red
•Red Star
•Speckled Sussex
•Dark Cornish
•Light Brahma
•Australorp
•Buff Orpington
•Dominique
•Barred Plymouth Rock
•White Plymouth Rock
•Partridge Plymouth Rock
•Delaware
•Golden Laced Wyandotte
•Silver Laced Wyandotte
•Columbian Wyandotte
•Black Jersey Giant
:•Rhode Island Red
This list is from the info I got off the shipping label, 25 hens and one rooster, brown layers. So if anyone can identify the breeds, please chime in. I myself am a Rhode Island Red fan and am seeing one or two possibles but not sure. So for now we will just wait and see who they grow up to be!

Holy Bee Pollen!

Over the summer I have been collecting bee pollen from one of my hives that has a pollen trap. There is not much on the how to's to do this so I have asked other beekeepers for tips.

The health benefits for bee pollen are incredible, as well as bee pollen containing vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, lipids, and protein. It comes from the pollen that collects on the bodies of bees. However, I found out why it is hard to find and expensive too! The two jars I have harvested in the picture to the right took me an hour of painstaking picking and cleaning through the pollen! The bees also deposit all kinds of other things in there too!

Honey for Sale!

 It's been a long hard road as a beekeeper for me. Many knocks along the way, learning as I go and making countless mistakes that have taught me well. This year I will have an amazing honey harvest though...

 My payoff for hard work and never giving up! It was never even a glimmer in my mind to quit. A few weeks ago I pulled out a frame of comb honey and it was as if I earned a gold medal!

 This year our farm will have this beautiful comb honey for sale as well as honey with a piece of comb in it (first picture above).

We are currently sold out of honey, but will also have Bee Pollen as well. That harvest is coming along too!
Raw and natural just the way the bees and nature intended it! I am so proud of my honey harvest and give great thanks to these little creatures who work so hard for us!

Baby Chick Update: One week later...

 Baby chick update: One week later...
Out of the 26 baby chicks we rescued last week, we were able to save 16 of them. Five days in a shipping box was very hard on them and I am so thankful that they called us.

They have doubled in size and out grown the laundry basket and are now in the largest bin I could find, my yarn bin! They are little eating, drinking and pooping machines. Doing further investigation of what happened, the person who ordered these chicks in Hawaii did have all the proper permits, it seems there was an error made at the Dept of Agriculture and someone is in a lot of trouble. I am just happy to have them, Tim and I were already talking about building an extension onto our chicken coop which we were already planning to do. We have all the material as well. These are all brown layers so we will be able to add to our egg business which is growing. I got a call from a friend two days ago who is expanding his business in Hamden and wants me to supply his new store with eggs, honey and whatever I can come up with. So these chicks were really meant to be!

Bee drinking with her "straw"

Over a few days last week, I was harvesting some honey. I have found one of the best ways to clean your equipment off from the very sticky honey is to give it back to the bees and let them clean it for me, after all they are getting back what we didn't use. I had some comb that was still pretty sticky with honey so I put it out on the deck and they went to town. If you look close at the bee in the center of the picture, she is using her proboscis or "tongue" to get deep down into the cell to get the last little bit of honey. Their proboscis is like a straw with a delicate tube and has a spoon like lobe (called a labella) that gives them the ability to suck the nectar right up. I just love these creatures and their abilities are fascinating!