calling any one from missouri

[SueT]

Hi all. I wanted to introduce myself to the Missouri crowd. Im in rural Cass county which is south of Kansas City. I am fairly new to poultry. I currently have 18 ducks (if it were up to my wife we would at least double that number )of different breeds and one Enbden goose. Is anyone else here anywhere near Cleveland, Mo?

We!come to the MO thread! Did you get a freeze last night?

 

[ajohn151]

We!come to the MO thread! Did you get a freeze last night?

Thank you!

No freeze but it was cold to be certain! My thermometer showed 38 degrees when I went out to release the quackers and feed them.

 

[Gray Farms]

Hi all. I wanted to introduce myself to the Missouri crowd. Im in rural Cass county which is south of Kansas City. I am fairly new to poultry. I currently have 18 ducks (if it were up to my wife we would at least double that number )of different breeds and one Enbden goose. Is anyone else here anywhere near Cleveland, Mo?

Hello and Welcome. Couple hours north of you here.

 

[JEP]

I figured I should introduce myself to my fellow Missourians. I'm in Andrew County. I thought we were clear for fall, but it appears the temps will climb a bit next week.

 

[SueT]

one of my pullets laid an egg!!!!!

 

[jthornton]

Congrats @SueT on getting your first egg from them. What size eggs does that breed normally lay?

I ate 3 of the larger pullet eggs this morning and all of them were doubles! Still not as much yolk as the extra large hen eggs but good all the same.

JT

 

[SueT]

Congrats @SueT on getting your first egg from them. What size eggs does that breed normally lay?

I ate 3 of the larger pullet eggs this morning and all of them were doubles! Still not as much yolk as the extra large hen eggs but good all the same.

JT

The egg is tiny like a bantam egg. 5 of the girls are half bantam and so I expect their eggs to be small. As for the 2 Spitzhauben pullets, the eggs from their mom and grandma are a bit smaller than the leghorns' large eggs.
3 doubles! wow!

 

[jthornton]

The Cinnamon Queen pullets are up to 10 eggs a day now, found one in the run a while ago... only two more to go and we will have a grand slam.

JT

 

[karenerwin]

@OhZark Biddies I checked my 2 bee hives today. 1 was dead and gone. All that was left was dead bees on the bottom screen board. (pictures on the Honey Factory thread). All of the frames look empty to me. This was the hive that was split off the original hive. I did see some varroa mites on 6 bees when I checked on them several weeks ago. I don't know if there weren't enough bees to keep warm when we had really cold temps for a few nights, if they simply starved, if the mites did them in or if it was a combination of all of those things. ( I'm assuming it was the combination). The original hive looks okay. Not great. But there are a lot of bees! I did start them on a 2 to 1 sugar water feed. My plan for the empty hive is to put those frames into the freezer and then using them in the Spring. I will probably order another Nuc (especially if the stronger hive doesn't end up making it either).
I thought by not taking any honey from either hive I was almost assuring that they would make it. LOL, I guess I learned differently.
I hope your hives are doing much better than mine!!!

 

[OhZark Biddies]

@OhZark Biddies I checked my 2 bee hives today. 1 was dead and gone. All that was left was dead bees on the bottom screen board. (pictures on the Honey Factory thread). All of the frames look empty to me. This was the hive that was split off the original hive. I did see some varroa mites on 6 bees when I checked on them several weeks ago. I don't know if there weren't enough bees to keep warm when we had really cold temps for a few nights, if they simply starved, if the mites did them in or if it was a combination of all of those things. ( I'm assuming it was the combination). The original hive looks okay. Not great. But there are a lot of bees! I did start them on a 2 to 1 sugar water feed. My plan for the empty hive is to put those frames into the freezer and then using them in the Spring. I will probably order another Nuc (especially if the stronger hive doesn't end up making it either).
I thought by not taking any honey from either hive I was almost assuring that they would make it. LOL, I guess I learned differently.
I hope your hives are doing much better than mine!!!

oh no! unfortunately losses are part of bee keeping too... it’s possible it was some combination of the things you mentioned, but there’s a chance that your strong hive robbed out your weaker hive... it can happen in a hurry, and sometimes that’s just Ma Nature’s way of taking care of business.

my hives are doing well, we still have lots of golden rod and asters in bloom, so they’ve been working all of that...

I planted about 150 crocus bulbs the other day, inspired by the pics you posted here this spring....along with 100 Siberian squill bulbs too ...

so hopefully that should give them a little something to work in March before the redbuds and things have bloomed...

March always gives me the most bee related heartburn due to our crazy start and stop winters here in the Show Me state, lol

I plan to give them a look here in the next couple days, and give them a little 2:1 snack if needed, and then do winter readying chores soon after

You had a lot of interesting bee fun for the first summer, that’s a success no matter what!