Stella's Social Club

[robhuncor]

Blue Barnevelder sounds pretty - I never saw one. I've had lots of regular Barnevelders.

 

[1muttsfan]

Today is hatch day for my Arkansas Blues, 4 are out and lots of pips but they do not seem to be unzipping yet

 

[ronott1]

Blue Barnevelder sounds pretty - I never saw one. I've had lots of regular Barnevelders.

I had one. She was a great broody and mom!

Today is hatch day for my Arkansas Blues, 4 are out and lots of pips but they do not seem to be unzipping yet

Hatch day!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Blue Barnevelder sounds pretty - I never saw one. I've had lots of regular Barnevelders.

Barnevelders are the best broodies! Here is mine, her lacing isn't the greatest compared to standard barnevelders, they are a work in progress. I have 1 blue male and 1 blue female. Not the greatest picture of the female.

Today is hatch day for my Arkansas Blues, 4 are out and lots of pips but they do not seem to be unzipping yet

My broodies have some Arkansas Blues under them too.

 

[1muttsfan]

That's great!
Barnvelders are such stately birds.

 

[Happy Chooks]

They are the most mellow breed I've ever had. I've never had a mean Barnevelder male.

 

[robhuncor]

The blues are beautiful. I've always loved Barnevelders but mine were never very good layers. My last hen was killed by a hawk a year ago - at the age of 14! I was so hoping to have her die of old age because I wanted to see how long she actually would go on. You would never have known she was so old - she looked great but her laying days were long over. Here she is in her last year.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Wow, 14! I have a 10 year old hatchery light brahma.

My Barnevelders lay well when they are not broody. They lay better than my welsummers do.

 

[robhuncor]

Funny, I've always had better luck with my Welsumers and they lay the darkest eggs. But I had nicer quality Welsumers.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Well, I screwed up. No time to check hives = problem on 1 hive. I knew I needed to get into them sooner.

This is my Hive #2. It's PACKED with bees, brood, honey, pollen.........absolutely packed. And this hive has built up much more than my Hive #1. When bees run out of room, they get ready to swarm (reproductive swarm to increase colonies). Well, I'm betting this hive will swarm in the next day or 2. I was going to simulate a swarm by moving the queen and some bees to a split I did a few weeks ago. (now Hive #3) Opened the top and they already made a queen. Shoot.

I have a 5 frame box baited to catch the swarm, but this swarm is going to be a large one, so they are going to need to be hived right away. I don't have a bottom board for another hive. A friend of mine does, and I offered to buy it off of her. She won't charge me though. So I have to go get it tomorrow so I'm ready to place another hive. (Hive #4)

So........this is bee math. (there are 2 boxes on this hive)

This picture shows the making of a queen bee. You can see 3 capped queen cells at the bottom of the frame. When the current queen leaves with 1/2 of the bees, they have another queen ready to hatch, do her mating flights and come back to lay eggs for the colony.