Just like that February is done with. I have 3 weeks before JuneCarter is due to kid. She is big like her mama used to get, and there are either 3-4 kids in there, OR, she has two or three really big babies to deliver. I hope there are many small kids and they are delivered without problem. If you look at Dolly in comparison you would question if Dolly is even pregnant. She is due the following friday.
I did get in and trim the girl’s hooves, the clippers did not have any charge to them and so I have not trimmed their tails and udders. Last year when I did that trimming it made the post birthing cleanup so much easier. I was going to do that today, but the weather did not cooperate.
I was supposed to have someone stop by and look at Buddy to see if they wanted to buy him. Again the weather interfered with those plans. This last week we have had really nice temperatures, in the 40’s and 50’s. I have been able to go out and feed in the morning wearing only a sweatshirt, hat and gloves. I was outside on Tuesday doing a bit of deadfall cleanup, when I heard a humming sound. At first I thought it was the trains down by the river. Then I realised that it was up in the trees. I found a nest of bees that were waking up with the warmer weather and that clued me in to begin building my bee hive.
Today though, it rained and then turned cold and now there is a sheet of ice over everything that was wet. So the guy didn’t come up from Malad, and I spent some time in the shop working on my beehive.
On Wednesday I had most of the pieces cut and then today I assembled as much as I have ready. This is not a square box Langstroth style hive. to build one of those would take better woodworking skills and more patience than I have. This is called a top bar hive. it was designed to be used in third world countries and built of scrap materials, which is what I did. In the book that my son gave me about beekeeping using this style of hive the author states something like “the bees are not all that discerning about the quality of your woodworking skills”
Here is the almost finished product. I took several designs and fit them to the materials I have on hand. Which is the whole idea. I still have to either attach legs, or make a stand for it. Make a few more bars to completely cover the top and then build a cover for the whole thing. I also need to decide which type of entry to incorporate. There are a few different ways to do that and I have to figure that out still. I attempted to make a divider but it doesn’t fit as well as I would like so that has to be re-done as well.
Now for the item everyone comes here for!
Egg count for the week of 2/23/2014 thru 3/01/2014:
- Eggs gathered 64
- Sold 5 dozen
- Cartons filled 5
For the month of February 2/2/14 thru 3/1/14:
- Eggs gathered 263
- Sold 20 dozen
- Cartons filled 21