Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[RoyalChick]

I don't think that is Diana. Isn't that Dottie? No wonder she pecks your ankles all the time!

It is Dotty and I have apologized to her.
She might peck you ankles too as she isn’t Dottie!

 

[bgmathteach]

It is Dotty and I have apologized to her.
She might peck you ankles too as she isn’t Dottie!

Ahhh, but sounds the same, and as far as I know, they write with chicken scratch, so it looks the same.

 

[RoyalChick]

Ahhh, but sounds the same, and as far as I know, they write with chicken scratch, so it looks the same.

And that is why I got the you-know-what beaten out of me for my mistake and Bob will just get a warning ‘bok bok’.


I know it is not a good excuse but I have been a bit off all day. I tried to open the front door with my car key. Lord knows the car key isn’t even used to open the car as it is all electronic these days. I have brain fog.
I think it is the weather. Tornadoes forecast this afternoon. WTH - I am in New Jersey. We don’t get tornadoes!

 

[RoyalChick]

Dotty says there is way too much discussion about my stupid mistake (for which I have apologized and been punished) and not enough discussion of her fabulous fluffy rear end and glorious tail.

 

[featherhead007]

Dotty says there is way too much discussion about my stupid mistake (for which I have apologized and been punished) and not enough discussion of her fabulous fluffy rear end and glorious tail.

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Don’t worry Dotty, I understand you!

 

[ManueB]

AND you have bees too!!! Our restrictions in Canada aren’t quite as stringent as Europe from my understanding… and I see queen cups on that frame? Did you have a swarm. Are you torching because of Varroa mites or hive beetles, oe something else. Oh and do you use open frames or have they got a starter panel. I really want to get into beekeeping as well (about ten years or so I’ve been interested at this point) but one of my Husband’s Aunts is allergic and terrified of awful aggressive bees (although she happily and knowingly hammered on a wasp nest infested wall and took a sting back in 2019 )

@Kris5902 I think I'm reaching the limits of my English which does not include technical bee terminology but I'll try to answer. I hope google translate allows us both to understand each other !
First I will say that my partner is the bee keeper and the knowledgeable one of us, I only assist him. If it can help convince your aunt, I have strong reactions to bee stings : we kept that under control for years with an antibiotic onguent ( for which I need a prescription) and antihistamine medication. We always have an adrenaline shot available just in case. But a few years ago we learned that high heat applied for 10 minutes just after a sting does miracle ( blow-dryer or cigarette) and this has been a life changer for me.

Now to your questions. What happened with this particular hive we were told by a professional bee keeper is supposedly not possible, so my story should be taken with caution. We had a first swarm leave the hive at the beginning of may which we caught. Then maybe ten days later I found a second swarm from that hive and we caught it again. We thought it was a secondary swarm except that a few days later my partner opened the initial hive and it was empty. What we thought was the secondary swarm, was actually the whole hive gone. It had left behind frames full of brood and some honey and yes there were queen cups.
So we didn't leave the empty hive there because it would have been plundered very fast by other hives. We took both swarms at a friend's place where we also keep bees, 20 km away.

We torch them because of wax moth ? Or honeycomb moth, not sure what the term is ! We have varroa but I don't think torching makes any difference as it lives on the bees.

For the frames what we like to do is keep frames that have been already built by bees before, either in colonies we have lost, or in upper chambers (? Not sure google translate is correct there). We will put three of those and the rest will be empty frames. We don't like artificial starters made from wax that we don't know the ingredients of.
My partner has been keeping bees for 8 years now and has been making a lot of mistakes, we still make some regularly. It's not easy keeping bees where we live, old people who have done it for years say it was a lot easier before.

Apologies for any strange terms and for having being so long .

 

[Ponypoor]

Maybe it’s a BC thing? I’ll have DH check a couple horse places next time he’s in town… he loves extra shops! the places we used to get it were OOS for a long time, couldn’t say why when asked, and eventually the shelf tags came down. Gosh I miss that stuff. I spent a full hour yesterday holding a little meat rooster chick. Someone else noticed some pink of his wattles and investigated with their beak biting and pulling on the poor little ones wattle. I rescued because he was squealing and well, one wattle was quite a bit bigger and had gone from pink to angry red. Every time I tried to return him to the brooder they would chase him and bite it. It took several attempts. Yesterday was also first grass day, but I still brought them back in for night.

Hey so checked at feed shop in horse stuff and it's Red-kote, they said can't get the blue stuff anymore!! Sheesh!

I looked ingredients and laughed and told them hope no one wastes their money buying red colour camphor oil for $15. Can get camphor for $5 at pharmacy.....

 

[Ponypoor]

It is Dotty and I have apologized to her.
She might peck you ankles too as she isn’t Dottie!

Names are interchangeable here, I call them all hey kiddo, the guys at work I call Buddy....

When I was working at Borden it was really easy with the military personnel, I would just call them all Private. No matter what their rank . Except my boss he was Col Kell ( short for Kelly). He would call me Kell so I started calling him Col Kell hahaha.

He asked me 'are we going to have a problem?'

I told him nope not as long as you get my name correct.... From then on it was Ms Kelly.....

 

[Ponypoor]

@Kris5902 I think I'm reaching the limits of my English which does not include technical bee terminology but I'll try to answer. I hope google translate allows us both to understand each other !
First I will say that my partner is the bee keeper and the knowledgeable one of us, I only assist him. If it can help convince your aunt, I have strong reactions to bee stings : we kept that under control for years with an antibiotic onguent ( for which I need a prescription) and antihistamine medication. We always have an adrenaline shot available just in case. But a few years ago we learned that high heat applied for 10 minutes just after a sting does miracle ( blow-dryer or cigarette) and this has been a life changer for me.

Now to your questions. What happened with this particular hive we were told by a professional bee keeper is supposedly not possible, so my story should be taken with caution. We had a first swarm leave the hive at the beginning of may which we caught. Then maybe ten days later I found a second swarm from that hive and we caught it again. We thought it was a secondary swarm except that a few days later my partner opened the initial hive and it was empty. What we thought was the secondary swarm, was actually the whole hive gone. It had left behind frames full of brood and some honey and yes there were queen cups.
So we didn't leave the empty hive there because it would have been plundered very fast by other hives. We took both swarms at a friend's place where we also keep bees, 20 km away.

We torch them because of wax moth ? Or honeycomb moth, not sure what the term is ! We have varroa but I don't think torching makes any difference as it lives on the bees.

For the frames what we like to do is keep frames that have been already built by bees before, either in colonies we have lost, or in upper chambers (? Not sure google translate is correct there). We will put three of those and the rest will be empty frames. We don't like artificial starters made from wax that we don't know the ingredients of.
My partner has been keeping bees for 8 years now and has been making a lot of mistakes, we still make some regularly. It's not easy keeping bees where we live, old people who have done it for years say it was a lot easier before.

Apologies for any strange terms and for having being so long .

Your explanation was very accurate. I have friends here who do bee keeping and yes I understand all you said.

My friends had samething happen as you, her bees left the hive and she though a swarm she found were wild. She caught them bought them home only to find they were hers hahaha.

she replaced them in the hive, and made the open smaller so the queen couldn't leave. The bees won't leave without the queen.

there was a huge die off of bees here this winter

 

[RoyalChick]

@Kris5902 I think I'm reaching the limits of my English which does not include technical bee terminology but I'll try to answer. I hope google translate allows us both to understand each other !
First I will say that my partner is the bee keeper and the knowledgeable one of us, I only assist him. If it can help convince your aunt, I have strong reactions to bee stings : we kept that under control for years with an antibiotic onguent ( for which I need a prescription) and antihistamine medication. We always have an adrenaline shot available just in case. But a few years ago we learned that high heat applied for 10 minutes just after a sting does miracle ( blow-dryer or cigarette) and this has been a life changer for me.

Now to your questions. What happened with this particular hive we were told by a professional bee keeper is supposedly not possible, so my story should be taken with caution. We had a first swarm leave the hive at the beginning of may which we caught. Then maybe ten days later I found a second swarm from that hive and we caught it again. We thought it was a secondary swarm except that a few days later my partner opened the initial hive and it was empty. What we thought was the secondary swarm, was actually the whole hive gone. It had left behind frames full of brood and some honey and yes there were queen cups.
So we didn't leave the empty hive there because it would have been plundered very fast by other hives. We took both swarms at a friend's place where we also keep bees, 20 km away.

We torch them because of wax moth ? Or honeycomb moth, not sure what the term is ! We have varroa but I don't think torching makes any difference as it lives on the bees.

For the frames what we like to do is keep frames that have been already built by bees before, either in colonies we have lost, or in upper chambers (? Not sure google translate is correct there). We will put three of those and the rest will be empty frames. We don't like artificial starters made from wax that we don't know the ingredients of.
My partner has been keeping bees for 8 years now and has been making a lot of mistakes, we still make some regularly. It's not easy keeping bees where we live, old people who have done it for years say it was a lot easier before.

Apologies for any strange terms and for having being so long .

I am loving this conversation. I have always wanted bees (even before I wanted chickens) but I have always been too intimidated because it seems like a lot to learn and a lot I can do wrong!
Also, I gather they produce an enormous amount of honey and I really only use a very little honey.
A lot of people around me keep bees so local honey is easy to find. I think many of their bees visit me because I have a pollinator friendly environment - I am always seeing honey bees on my plants.
I am still a bit overwhelmed by trying to keep my chickens alive so I think I will still wait on bees. Oh, and I would need an even more potent electric fence because of the bears!