Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[drstratton]

I can only pray that's why I find dead bees in the yard... that they don't live long anyway.

Other questions ~ all the workers are female? So where does a fertilized queen come from & how is she chosen for such an honor? Does each individual hive/house/box have its own individual queen when we see several boxes set side-by-side in a field?

Bee Tx
Thirsty Thursday ~ Keiko ~ day early
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The bees build different sized cells. Drone cells are larger than those of workers. Eggs for worker bees(female) are fertilized. Eggs for drones (male) are unfertilized. The queen knows which to lay, determined by the size of the cell. A queen comes from a fertilized egg. The bees know when to replace their queen. She will be replaced if she's not laying well or is sick, also if she decides to swarm. They choose a fertilized egg and feed it only royal jelly until it is capped over in about 9-10 days. The queen cell is larger than worker and drone cells and looks kind of like a peanut. Worker bees and drones are only fed royal jelly for 3 days. So, the difference between raising a worker vs a queen is the food they are given. Each individual hive has one queen.

Bee talk tax

 

[featherhead007]

I can only pray that's why I find dead bees in the yard... that they don't live long anyway.

Other questions ~ all the workers are female? So where does a fertilized queen come from & how is she chosen for such an honor? Does each individual hive/house/box have its own individual queen when we see several boxes set side-by-side in a field?

Bee Tx
Thirsty Thursday ~ Keiko ~ day early
View attachment 4210497

So many questions! The only thing you should asking is “To bee or not to bee! What a ridiculous question .

 

[featherhead007]

The bees build different sized cells. Drone cells are larger than those of workers. Eggs for worker bees(female) are fertilized. Eggs for drones (male) are unfertilized. The queen knows which to lay, determined by the size of the cell. A queen comes from a fertilized egg. The bees know when to replace their queen. She will be replaced if she's not laying well or is sick, also if she decides to swarm. They choose a fertilized egg and feed it only royal jelly until it is capped over in about 9-10 days. The queen cell is larger than worker and drone cells and looks kind of like a peanut. Worker bees and drones are only fed royal jelly for 3 days. So, the difference between raising a worker vs a queen is the food they are given. Each individual hive has one queen.

Bee talk tax
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Seems she sure knows her bee business. (That’s the buzz in town anyways)

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Booties … and pantaloons! It is quite ridiculous - there is a leg in there somewhere.
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And here we have Bucky with her orange legs.
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That looks like Buckeye yellow here looked….& sunlight through the tiny legs!

 

[Sylvester017]

So many questions! The only thing you should asking is “To bee or not to bee! What a ridiculous question .

& ~ I venture ~ you have no retort for such profundity?

 

[ChicoryBlue]

I've admired D'uccles for awhile now. Millie Fleur D'uccles have always been on my wish list. Serama's they are just too cute for their own good. Their squeaky little crows, yes I can imagine a coop full of serama roos.

That said, I LOVE my big girls. Marans, Orps, Barred Rocks, Sussex, Brahma and their mixes, I've loved each and every one of them. I even love the cochin ladies when they are not egg eating. They have behaved this summer, I have not had to threaten them once with being turned into chicken and dumplings and it's about time. As a whole though, they have not taken to confinement as well as the silkies. It has gotten better now that I am able to sit out with them for a hour to let them stretch their legs. I'm on guard though, constantly on edge and doing head counts. I cannot relax and enjoy watching them like I used to. 3 of my big girls are perfectly happy though no longer free ranging. Oddly enough it is the Cochins and Mrs. E the biggest of the ladies.

If I'm being brutally honest, right now I can only relax and breath and just enjoy being with the chickens when I'm in the silkie coop. Happy little chickens, making happy chicken noises and not trying to make a great escape and make me feel guilty for not letting them out.

If they are like here you’re seeing them adjusting to the new routine…not necessarily whether they will ultimately “take” confinement well. But do you offer any protected yard space at all, and enough square footage where they are?

I don’t offer supervised free ranging now much at all which is a big change. But having given them an alternative of net covered, electric-fenced space with two different foliage environments, and not offering the free ranging option for some time, they've adapted and seem to be pretty happy making the rounds in there through the day and aren’t asking or trying to go out anymore. They have a good routine of woodsy rhododendron time, fieldsy-wildflower-whatnot time, resting & eating & drinking in and near the covered run on litter time. Rinse, repeat! It will get much smaller for winter, but I’m also adding to the covered run litter space.

 

[Ponypoor]

Whiskers enjoyed some sunbathing and the babies enjoyed pecking around. At one point the yellow chick grabbed a leaf with a feather attached and dragged it out of the pit Whiskers was digging outside that one is likely a Roo also haahahaha

 

[Ponypoor]

I moved whiskers and her brood out of the pen she was in and put her in the large crate for tonight, in the Summer House. I will put her and her wee ones in a small pen I have in the summer house where I have brooded babies before, for the day tomorrow. Once they are bigger I will let them out with Mr P and his gang in the Summer House. I trust them not to be rough housing about, and the Noirans should be ok with them. They are three weeks older but I feel in a couple months they will be integrated together, though the poor silkie babies won’t be able to roost up on the ledge for a bit! I might make some steps for them to get up and down with.

 

[Ikslo]

Whelp I was wrong about which hen laid that dark egg. Got another one this afternoon. Caught her in the act. It was one of my buffs. Was NOT expecting that. So I ask thee, do I have Buff Marans here, perhaps?

 

[Ikslo]

French Black Tail Buff Marans, maybe?