Nevadans?

[Peep_Show]

Quote:
You can get an accurate humidity measure with an under $4 thermometer/hydrometer from K-Mart (see picture). I double-checked with a digital one in my incubator at the same time and it was right on. (Truth be told, I think I had like 4 thermometers in the bator.... I'm such a nervous hatcher!) Be careful with the digital ones because depending on what model you get it might just only give you the hi/lo for a 24-hour period....which is what happened with my first batch of eggs...I kept turning up the temp because it read it was low and by the time I figured it out -- because the bator felt REALLY warm -- it actually was 106 degrees inside and my eggs were nothing but blood rings. Mea culpa. When you know better, you do better.

 

[aubreynoramarie]

ah! i want some! cant wait

thanks for the advice!

 

[NevadaRon]

Actually, it's called a hygrometer

, and here is a nice one that is a digital thermometer/hygrometer, small size (made for a cigar humidor - should fit you 'bator nicely

), and inexpensive.

Why don't you like bees, aubrey? I thought everyone liked honey! I've been thinking about it for a while now, but the real impetus came after I read this article:

Honey laundering: The sour side of nature’s golden sweetener

 

[aubreynoramarie]

I like honey but I do not enjoy the company of 6-8 legged things that sting an/or bite

 

[Eglyntine]

Quote:
hehe Ron you sound so much like me. I just placed my order with Johnny's Seeds and after I was done the whole order ended up being aro0und $233. I am not done yet either of course. I got replacement roses off of QVC last week and I still need to get the plants and seeds for the greenhouse we're building.

1) Garden needs to be tilled and readied for the onslaught of seeds and seedlings coming in March. We are planting 1/3 of our property in garden this year. So 1/3 of a 1/3 hehe.
2) Our Greenhouse needs to be built for the hydro gardens.
3) Worm Farm Expansion needs to be built before Spring. The 4 totes I have are full to the brim and they need more room.
4) Need to get those 5, 4X4 individual breed chicken houses built and fenced off for all of the different breeds I will be hatching out this year.
5) And there is way more to the list but I will save you all of the trouble and stop there for a while.

I would LOVE to have bees but I think I am going to have to wait until the boys are a bit older and understand they need to stay away from where the bees are kept before I can set up a Bee farm. But maybe we can work out a trade on honey, worms for honey?

Chicks? Veggie trade? hehe My family LOVES raw honey...

On the topic of incubators, I am currently on the quest of finding a large capacity one and I was wondering if anyone on this thread has a large capacity bator and if so what brand do you recommend. They all pretty much look like they do the same thing but the price ranges are all over the place so I was wondering if it is the brand or the seller that is making that distinction.

These are two I have been looking at the most, of course I am going to try to find them cheaper or used:

HIGH HATCH INCUBATOR (Incubator & Hatcher) - does 180 to 270 eggs depending on medium or large eggs
Sportsman Cabinet Egg Incubator - 1502 (Incubator & Hatcher) - does 216 eggs

I am exactly like Peep_Show, I am a worry wort and I want something that is going to take some of the stress off. Of course I am going to try using the broody hens as much as I can and trust me ALL of my girls fight over who is the broodiest but just in case, I would like to have a backup. I do not want all of my girls sitting instead of laying.

Plus if someone needed to hatch out some eggs and I had the extra room I would love to help out if I can.

Mean Ameraucanas... hmmm... I would have to say that is exactly why I got rid of all of mine. They were so mean all of the time, always pecking and picking at everyone, hording the nests, the food and the water, attacking the dogs and the boys the second they walked into the pen, and just all around biddies. When I finally got rid of the last one the whole dynamic in my pen changed. Everyone is very friendly, no one is bald anymore and I am never glared at when I go out to feed my babies anymore. *LOL* I had originally thought it was the Black Stars but after a couple of weeks of sitting out watching the girls with my DH, he agreed it was the Ameraucanas that were causing all of the strife at feeding, roosting and nesting time.

Everyone is different of course on what temperament works for them and their flock but we are so laid back over here and all of our pets are too. So having high strung moody pets just does not work for us. I guess I could have justified it if they laid better than they did but compared to my other girls the Ameraucanas just did not measure up on production and with their temperamental attitudes it was not worth the hassle. I seriously believe I heard cheers and applauds of joy and relief from the other chickens the day I sold off the last one.

Well I am off for a bit.... take care all!

 

[Eglyntine]

Quote:
I read this article and it could not be more true... we saw the ramifications of bee shortages last year here in Nevada. Many crops and fruit trees did not bear fruits or veggies just because of the lack of bees at the time of pollination. The only thing I was able to grow last year that produced fruit was a few Tomatoes and Bell Peppers and that was because after the first batch I planted I figured out that they were not Parthenocarpic plants and with no bees, there was no pollination. (very typical with heirloom plants of course) The second batch I did were parthenocarpic so I got some fruit off of them but it was later in the season when I figured out what was going on so I did not get the big crop I was hoping for.

If you would not mind, could you send me some links on bee keeping? Maybe I could find or build a setup that would be good for the bees but protect them from the boys too. I could always put them in the front yard that we never use. It is fenced and locked off from the rest of the yard. It would be nice to have my own bees just for the pollination aspect alone.

 

[SunnyDawn]

The only mean ameraucana I have is the one girl that is always broody and I think it's because she is sleep deprived and hungry (she never gets off that nest for more than 30 seconds). Or maybe it's because she is BROODY.

The rest of them are very sweet. Now my RIRs! They are the feather pickers in my flock especially to this one poor Golden SL. Her butt is always bare from them picking on her! They weren't even cuddly as babies (maybe that's why they're so ornery, they didn't get held enough as babies). They are little egg machines though so they get to stay. At least until they draw blood.

Audrey, buenas dias! ¿Alguna vez dormir esta noche? Lo siento si lo que está mal. Mi español es malo. Pero tengo que aprender.

Ron, I didn't read the article you linked yet so forgive me if I repeat something referenced in the article. Bees are very cool if you have the space but we would have a hard time raising them here in the middle of town.

What would the bees be feeding on mostly? I've heard bees on alfalfa blossoms make the best honey but I'm not sure what crops they grow out there by you. I've been reading up on bee farming for years now (as most devout gardeners do, I'm sure) but have never had the space to do it. I should get some mason bees at least (they don't sting aubrey) cause I have not had my nectarine tree fruit for the last few years. Every year it blooms at exactly the wrong time! Without fail the weather will turn cloudy (or worse) for a good two weeks or more (for the non-gardeners in the group, honey bees don't fly when it's cloudy etc). Last year I was outside in a vicious wind storm trying to hand pollinate my poor tree!

My neighbors must have thought I'd lost my mind! But it was to no avail. No fruit came from all the gorgeous flowers last year either.

My tomatoes and veggies did fine because they bloom later in the season and I did see quite a few honeybees out once the weather warmed up. Sadly they are lower and lower in numbers though. Are you wanting to find wild/feral honeybees? There is a group out there trying to preserve these hardier specimens that seem to be thriving in spite of all the odds being stacked against them. There is a honeybee thread here on BYC. Here's the link https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=310974&p=1 What size hoop greenhouse are you getting? I've told DH that when we move I want a huge one! I want to be able to move around freely and have a lot of space for growing! I did hydroponic gardening in the 80's with a group I was involved in and it was very successful! The area was tough though. The winds would kick up so bad at times that they would rip the greenhouses up.

The newer hoop greenhouses I've seen are made of sturdier fabric though and you can roll up the sides when the wind gets bad (as well as to vent the heat on warm days) to help prevent damage. I really want to retire in Ecuador so that we can grow anything we want organically (the rule there rather than the exception) and what we don't want to grow will be easy to buy (and cheap)!

Eglyntine, what kind of roses do you have? I'm a rose nut! I had over 70 roses at my last house but I had a huge yard there. My roses here are naked from about 3' down. Well in the back yard anyway. The ones in the front are healthy. I keep meaning to fence off the roses from the chickens but they love the petals and the leaves sooo much! I just can't decide which I love more the chickens or the roses. Actually if you saw my poor roses in the back yard you'd know the chickens have obviously won!

I have grown all different kinds of roses and I love them all! Well if I move to Ecuador I can grow a gazillion of them. They grow like weeds down there. They are a major crop for them (well not like coffee, bananas, or cacao but still a huge business down there). Oh, BTW, for pollination only mason bees are a better bet. They fly on overcast days and will tolerate other mild forms of weather too.

Love that pic Peep_Show!!! Gives me the impetus I need to go work on my bator!

Kim just let me know when they start laying...

Ok, I better shut up now. Not sure why I'm so chatty today. Probably procrastinating on chores.

 

[NevadaRon]

Aubrey I understand your trepidation but I think with reasonable care you are unlikely to get stung - at least not more than a few times!

Eglyntine what kind of greenhouse do you plan to build? A hoop house? Or something more elaborate?
Pollination was why I became interested in beekeeping in the first place. But as I said after reading about the Chinese "honey" now I can't wait to start!

I'll send you some links of my research to date.

Sunny - in "town" I assume bees would feed on people's landscape plants.

But just to the south of me there is a huge alfalfa ranch straddling the Carson River, less than a mile away. In fact, that's where I get the alfalfa for my chickens! Anyway, I figure I am plenty close enough for them to do the majority of their foraging on alfalfa. I'm hoping they do the rest of it in my garden, to improve my production.

Did you look at the beekeeping link? It was for the "Bee-Ginners"

kit. That was the smallest (and least expensive

) one I've found. I will probably get a larger kit but that one might be perfect for you in town! Thanks for the link to the honeybee thread!

ETA: I was just looking at the Bee thread and soemone suggested this book: "First Lessons in Beekeeping by Keith Delaplane". A while back RFD-TV had a 10-part series on beekeeping by Keith Delaplane - it was excellent!

 

[SunnyDawn]

Quote:
I read part of his book. We were staying at our daughter's house and she had a copy. But she wouldn't let me take it home to finish it.

I'll check the link but I'd rather wait til we get settled in a bigger place. That's awesome that they make a small set-up for more folks though. The way things are going it will be the backyard gardener that saves the honey bee.
Since you live so close to an alfalfa farm can I be put on that list for honey if you ever get enough to sell?

 

[Peep_Show]

Does anyone have a handle on who might have/carry star thistle honey? It is THE BEST creamiest yummiest stuff....and I haven't found it since Ikeda's in Auburn, CA stopped stocking it. (Of course, I live in Las Vegas now) Star thistle is pretty useless in pasture (toxic to horses, but easily eradicated with lots of irrigation), but sheer ambrosia on toast after bees work it.

Bee keeping is undeniably cool. Down the street from my Mom's house in Oakland I could've sworn I heard a chicken egg song. Mentioned it to Mom who was really surprised that her little hoity-toity township would allow chickens (they do!). She found out the person with the chicken actually has three AND a bee hive. Now she thinks he's the most interesting guy in the neighborhood! (Okay, okay... Mom's 82 and doesn't get out much.)