Saturday, May 12, 2012

Failed Adoption

For those of you who are reading this and know me, you probably know that my family is a licensed foster home and we've been awaiting an adoption placement for years.  It's actually starting to feel pretty ridiculous how long we've been waiting but there's a reason for everything.  I just haven't figured it out yet.  Really this blog has nothing to do with our adoption process.   Yup, you guessed it, more about chickens.  (Oh no, am I starting to live vicariously through a hen?!  Lol, I hope not but then again I'm jealous that she gets to stay at home every day to raise her babies)

So last Saturday, May 5, 2012, we went to the Feed Warehouse in Southwick, MA to buy a few chicks.  The owner, Larry, had ordered Rhode Island Reds, Buff Opringtons, Barred Rocks, and Corinish Rocks (meat birds).  The chicks had hatched on Monday (the same day some of Judy's chicks hatched).  We purchased 1 Barred Rock (black chick with a white spot on her head) and 2 Buff Opringtons (yellowish in color).



As you may already know, the six chicks Judy hatched were hatched from eggs laid by a variety of hens and are assorted breeds.  It is possible to sneak day old chicks under a broody hen (a hen laying on eggs) and have her raise them like her own.  I decided to take a big risk and sneak the three new chicks under Judy to see if she would take them.

I attempted to place the chicks on Saturday night.  Chickens don't see well at night.  This makes them very vulnerable to predators and to crazy women placing random chicks under them at night.  I put all three chicks in one hand, lifted judy up slightly with the other hand and let the chicks snuggle in under her.  It couldn't have gone any smoother.



On Sunday, May 6, I went out first thing in the morning to check on the chicks.  I saw Judy walking around with a bunch of chicks.  I counted them... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.... umm there should be 9 right?  Ok, I counted again and yup only 8.  I realized Judy only had one black chick and she should have two.  I heard an assertive little peep coming out from behind the dog crate I have on the floor of the coop (where the brooding box is located).  Thank God the little black chick was back there and was alright.

I tried to convince Judy that this chick belonged with the rest but she chased her off.  I brought the chick inside the house and set her up in an old recycling box I had.  I tried placing the little Barred Rock with Judy again on Sunday night also but Steve came home on Monday morning and told me that she was rejected again.  Looks like we'll be raising her by hand.

Chickens like company so we knew we needed to get our indoor chick a buddy.  I considered taking one of Judy's 8 chicks to keep her company but decided I'd leave her alone to raise them and just buy a couple more.  Thankfully we didn't rush out to buy them because it was only a matter of time before the little Barred Rock had company.

On Wednesday, Steve called me in the morning and told me that he found one of the light colored chicks (possibly one of the Buff Opringtons) dead in the dog crate.  He wasn't sure who killed it but I'm thinking it was Judy since it was locked in the crate with her when he found it.  It had an opened wound from being pecked behind its head.

Steve removed the dead chick and watched to see how the remaining seven chicks were doing.  I'm so glad he stayed to watch them interact because he noticed Judy was rejecting another one of the light colored chicks (another adopted chick?).  She was trying to chase it off and was pecking its back.

 (scab on her back from being pecked)

Steve grabbed the chick and brought it in the house to live with the Barred Rock.  In time we'll know for sure if the three she rejected were, in fact, the three I tried convincing her to adopt.

I wasn't thrilled about raising the chicks in the house but Andrew likes to "peep" at them, pet them, and feed them so it's turned out to be fun.  If only I could teach him how to clean out their box.


 
 Please excuse the baby burp on the video :)



Saturday, May 5, 2012

The Swarm

Hello everyone, this is Steve, Sue's husband and this will be my first ever blog.  This evening after working my normally scheduled midnight shift, and working the Granby Road Race I slept for a mere 4 hours.  At about 5:00 P.M., my mother-in-law called me at the house.  It's a swarm!!!   Although somewhat excited, I was mainly exhausted and not feeling up to the task.  But Sue came home, loaded me up, got me a Dunkin Donuts coffee and I was ready to go.

I'll give just a brief background about my newly found hobby.  In August, 2010, my father-in-law, Sue's dad, Richard died after a hard fought battle with brain cancer.  When Rich died, he left behind many loved ones, animals, and about 11 bee hives.  I took it upon myself to face my fear of anything that could sting me, and take over the duties of co-beekeeper along with my brother-in-law Dave.

Last year we extracted about 73 pounds of finished raw honey.  Being novices in the trade, we lost many hives over the winter and are now down to 3 hives.  Bees are fascinating insects and are essential to agriculture for their role in pollination.  When bees feel confined, and are growing their colony in the spring, they swarm to find better locale.  The queen leaves the colony, with about 60% of the worker bees.  So, what does a bee swarm look like?  Take a look, and by the way these photos were taken by Sue who was standing behind us, and foolishly not wearing a bee suit.


There are several thousand bees in this swarm.  This swarm posed a dilemma for Dave and me.  They swarmed in between the rafters of one of the barns next to where their original hive is located.  The rafters were located at the higher end of the barn, about ten feet high.  Dave and I used the reliable John Deere tractor, and placed a new hive box on a grapple bucket lifting it just under the swarm.  We then leaned two ladders against the bucket so that Dave and I could sweep the swarm into their new home.  Here is a look of our setup


With everything in place, it was time to get down and dirty.  We literally had to put our hands, gloved of course, in the eye of the storm.  At first our plan was to come up under the swarm, and place them into the hive box.  Given the number of bees we would probably still be there scooping bees in the hive box.  Dave said, and I would agree, that the feeling of the bees was almost like a beating heart, you could feel the fluttering of the swarm.  Our plan changed to just putting our hands toward the top of the rafters, and pushing down on the swarm.



Unfortunately, we were not able to do this without some casualties.  When a honey bee stings or dies, it releases a pheromone to let the rest of the colony know there is danger.  Soon, all you can hear is the distinct hum of bees flying near your ears.  After the initial sweeping of the swarm, Dave and I backed down the ladders and looked at our progress.  We also looked at Dave's gloves, if he didn't have them on I think he would be in a little pain.  Take a look, all of the little white sacks you see are the venom sacks from the honey bee.  Once a honey bee stings she (because workers are females, and male or drones don't sting) loses her life.


After the first sweep, we were able to get most of the swarm and hopefully more importantly the queen in the hive box.  The majority of the swarm were in the hive box, the bees you see on the corners are fanning it down hopefully getting ready to make it their home.


Dave and I decided to let the swarm calm down before doing our second sweep.  This time, we used a long putty knife, which was Sue's idea, to push the bees into the hive box.  This proved to be very effective.  That's me scooping, and Dave next to me.



Dave finished the scooping, and even though we didn't get every single bee, which you won't, we were confident the queen was in the hive box.  If we are right, the rest of the bees still on the rafters will move to the hive box with their queen.  When everything was done, here is what we had in the hive box.  The queen hopefully made her way down to the lower box to start making brood, and before you know it we will now have a fourth hive!


Two of our three hives have honey supers which are ready to harvest, so stay tuned and stop by to buy some when it's ready just in time for allergy season!


Tuesday, May 1, 2012

"Oh how fast they grow" (said in my best old lady voice)

Ever since the time I was pregnant people have always warned me that "It goes by so fast".  I've always said I understand and I'll try to cherish every moment.  I really do cherish every moment of my son's life, but I still don't think I fully grasp how fast the time is going by.  My son, Andrew, is already 15 months* old!  Just 2 years ago this week, I was in Week 4 of my pregnancy and Andrew was just  beginning to form his major internal organs.  I was feeling tired but I had no idea I was even pregnant.  It's so amazing to think how much life has changed in just 2 little years.  



Andrew had his 15 month appointment today.  We're blessed that he's a happy and healthy kid.  He's in the 91st percentile for his height and the 65th for his weight.  I wonder if he'll stay big for his age.  No matter what I really look forward to watching him grow.  

         *side note: I've always believed once my son turned 1, I'd just say he's 1 and drop the month talk.  For those of you who aren't parents, it's much harder then you'd think to say your kid is 1 when he's 15 months.  There are so many changes that happen every month that you end up talking about age in months.  I still find it annoying that I talk in months when he's over a year old but I just can't seem to stop. 



Chicken Update:

I checked in on the chickens when I got home from work and saw that another chick hatched (an orange one).  :)  Broody Judy gave up on the last two eggs which gave me an opportunity to cleaned out the old shells and the last 2 eggs.  One of the eggs had a crack in it.  I opened it up a little bit and confirmed that the chick died.  I'll spare you the photograph (unless you want it) but it was a little black chick. 


Here's Judy exploring with the chicks.




Can you believe just 22 & 23 days ago eggs were being laid that resulted in these little peepers?  

Children and chicks: "Oh how fast they grow"