Monthly Archives: April 2015

Bringing Home the Bees

Posted on April 30, 2015 by jkmcintyre

Old combs will be recycled
Old combs will be recycled

After the swarm moved into the hive we had ready for the new packaged bees, I had one day to scrounge a suitable replacement. Luckily we had the empty hive from the first die-off in 2014. But it needed some love. Continue reading →

Posted in animal behaviour, bees, honeybees, top bar hive | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Swarm!

Posted on April 29, 2015 by jkmcintyre

Two days before our package arrived, a swarm moved into the hive!   Bees had been checking out the hive for weeks, but it looked like they were just robbing the remaining honey. I stopped thinking it was scouts looking … Continue reading →

Posted in animal behaviour, bees, honeybees, top bar hive | Tagged , | 5 Comments

God Bless the Little Children

Posted on April 25, 2015 by jkmcintyre

The rental house south of us has a large back porch on the second floor that overlooks our chicken yard. Maymay grew up with our chickens – her little voice learning to say ‘Chicken!’ as she watched them from the … Continue reading →

Posted in chickens, Family | Tagged | 2 Comments

Sprouting greens for chickens

Posted on April 14, 2015 by jkmcintyre
[caption width="360" align="alignnone"] Successive sproutings of grains for the hens[/caption]

My chickens spent most of their time in a (large) enclosure that they have picked free of greens. I want them to be happy – and to produce healthy eggs, so I pick them dandelion leaves, I leave them piles of fresh cut grass. I mean to revisit the food fence and grazing frame, but then I saw this on Pinterest: sprouts.

I won’t extoll the benefits of sprouted grains here, but the list is long. Chickens can eat all parts of the sprouted grain, and Continue reading →

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