Schmidt Homestead

2010-04-08T10:57:00.000-05:00

We started the fifth bag of feed for the Nuggets today.

Move to Pasture Pen

2010-03-31T20:53:00.005-05:00

We moved the Nuggets to their new pasture pen today. The little layers moved into the coop. We weighed 6 of the Nuggets. The average weight is 2 lb 8 oz.

We finished the second bag of meat bird feed today, and will start the third tomorrow.

We went out after dark to check on them. It was very windy, and they were huddled in a pile under the heat lamp. We decided to rotate the pen 90 degrees to give them more protection from the wind. We also added a tarp to the side and top. They still stuck close to the heat lamp, but they seemed more comfortable out of the wind.

2010-03-27T20:52:00.000-05:00

We started the second bag of meat bird feed today.

Nugget Feed

2010-03-22T12:08:00.003-05:00

I dumped the rest of the bag of chick feed into the feeders today. They'll start on the first bag of meat bird feed now. They've been drinking over a gallon of water each day, so I guess it's time to move to the larger waterer. They're eating more than a feeder full of feed, so we have the tray feeder out there too. We weighed them today. The average weight is 1 lb 3 oz.

Nuggets Improving

2010-03-19T12:24:00.003-05:00

We didn't notice any new pecking injuries on the Nuggets today. They don't seem to be making the sores from yesterday worse. It looks like it was probably the layers causing the problem, so we'll keep them separated.

More Injured Nuggets

2010-03-18T12:23:00.002-05:00

The injured Nugget escaped from the ICU during the night. Now there are other Nuggets that show signs of pecking. We are concerned that the older layers are picking on them. We went out after dark and moved the layers back inside.

Injured Nugget

2010-03-17T12:20:00.002-05:00

We noticed today that one of the Nuggets has a bloody bottom. It looks like somebody plucked out it's tail feathers. Steve built an ICU divider in the corner, and we'll segregate it for a few days.

Layers Move Out

2010-03-16T12:17:00.000-05:00

We moved the layers that we'll be selling out to the coop with the meaties today. The layers are about 1.5 weeks older, so they're more feathered out, but the meaties are about the same weight.

Nuggets Move Out

2010-03-15T12:13:00.002-05:00

Steve finished repairing the burned coop, so we moved the Nuggets outside today. The heat lamp is keeping it close to the temp that they need. During the day it's warm enough for us to open the door and put up a screen to give them some fresh air. We started a new bag of chick starter grower feed.

Meat Birds

2010-03-12T19:32:00.003-06:00

We picked up 28 meat birds at Farm & Home today. We combined them with the 28 layers in the brooder. It's crowded in there, so we'll have to move the meaties outside in a day or two. It's supposed to rain all weekend, but we'll try to get the burned coop repaired in the next couple of days. They'll live there for a couple of weeks while we either build them a tractor or we make them an area in the old garage.

We weighed them as soon as we got home. The average weight is 4.5 oz.

lots of new bees

2008-07-15T00:04:00.003-05:00

Checked the bees last evening. Refilled the feeder.

They have about half of one one side of one of the new frames built out and are storeing honey/sugar water in it.

The new bees from my queen are very noticable against the darker black ones of Dave's that came from him. At this point my new ones outnumber the old ones at least 2 to 1. I got a good pic of 2 of the new ones working a sun flower in the sun flower patch we planted.

Still no pics of the hive, i should shoot some video.

Today i noticed that there was a lot of activity at the front of the hive. as i watched it seemed as if there was a fight going on at the hive. As i thought about it i remembered others talking about robbing. and with the new quart of sugar water, i bet thats what was happening. I hadnt been useing the entrance reducer, but tossed it in real quick to help them out. It seemed to make a diffrence, and they were not happy i was hanging around (about 5' away)

This is turning out to be my weekly check. I was exiciting to see all the fresh bees in the hive. Saw some new capped honey on the outer 2 frames in the corners, exciting to see.

bee update

2008-07-07T16:56:00.002-05:00

checked the hive sat 7/5

quick check, they are finnally building on the new frames, still no activity on the medium super, the once frame i put right in the middle of the super had about half the comb built out on one side.

Still havnt seen any eggs,but havnt looked hard, but the queen is still around and there are good brood patterns on the frames.

Entrance feeder is low/out as of today... ill likely refill in a day or 2.

Bee timeline (quick log)

2008-07-03T11:42:00.005-05:00

06/11 queens arrive
06/12 nucs started
06/15 queen check, 1 for 2 :(
06/17 combine nucs into one hive
06/24 hive check ok, honey frames light, add feeder
06/29 hive check good, lots of bees, add new med super, still no new comb
07/02 refill entrance feeder
07/13 refill feeder, 2x new bees, half frame new frame drawn out.

Bee check

2008-06-29T22:35:00.001-05:00

In my goal to check on the hive roughly once a week (especially during this development stage) I checked them this afternoon.

WOW, what a difference 3 weeks makes. The most bee's I've seen in the hive yet, lots of larva about to hatch out, good brood patterns on the frames so I know the queen is still around and found her on the 3rd to the outside frame.

Decided with all the new bees and plenty more on the way to put a super of medium frames on top with natural beeswax foundation. They still havn't drawn any comb on the plasticell frames that i have. (they came with the kits I ordered) I moved one to the dead center of the hive, we'll see if they decide to finally start building on it. Or if they all move up top and start building out that first.... (I was warned that the bees would take a LONG time to build out on the plasticell.

Honey frames are lighter, seems they have been pulling off of stores heavily. I'll bust out the entrance feeder and feed some sugar water now that they are starting to get really going. I'll feed 1:1 sugar water.

I have seen some bees in the yard, fun to look down and see a honey bee on a clover flower and know its one of YOUR bees!

Still didn't get any photo's and I'm really kicking myself for not doing so. Ill get some next weekend when I open them up again.

Back from the wedding, bee update

2008-06-24T11:28:00.000-05:00

Wow what a week, wedding went well. Had lots of fun but it was a long drive.

Checked in on the bees today. Everyone seems to be getting along, not much else to report. The new queen is still there so thats good.

Mental note, get some pics next time I'm in the hive....

Down to 1 hive

2008-06-17T10:24:00.000-05:00

Its been a busy last few days. My best friend is finally getting married and I'm returning the favor of best man. We leave in a few hours so I'll keep this short.

Talked to Dave Sunday night. He said it would be fine to combine both nucs and that the one hive would have a better chance of making it through the winter.

Just got back, combined both nucs into one standard 10 frame langstrom hive body. I wound up needing 3 extra new frames.

We'll check them when I get back. Hopefully everything goes well.

First queen check

2008-06-15T20:00:00.000-05:00

Well its been 3 days since I put the nucs out. Some activity but not a lot around the fronts. Been busy working on getting the new pool set up.

Nuc 1 on the left side (if standing in front of them) was doing well, the queen was released as expected and was found on the outside most frame. Removed the queen cell and inserted the extra frame (we had left one out so we could put the queen cell in)

Nuc 2 (the other one) on the other hand, is bad news. The bees seemed not to like the new queen and she either died or was stung to death. Found inside her queen cell DOA. The hive has about half the bees in it that I originally put in it 3 days ago, I wonder if a few have defected.

At this point I can't order new queens as I'm about to head out of town for the week. And judging from the lateness of the season, I'm considering combining both nucs into one hive and nursing just one through the winter. Ill consult with Dave and see what he says...

More later

New bees arive

2008-06-13T23:03:00.000-05:00

So I got the wild idea that I wanted to raise bees on the homestead. We saw the benefit of them in the garden in years past, and being a big fan of honey, thought it would be perfect addition.

For a year I did research and learned, knowing that in the spring of 08 I would get started. At the end of February I attended a meeting with the local apiary club and there I learned that I was late in ordering my 3 lbs of bees. They were only shipping for June. Many said that was way too late to get started, so we went another route. I could get splits from some local beekeepers.

A split is when you take 3 or so frames of brood from an established hive and remove them with the nurse bees (the ones that care for the brood) still on the frame and put them in a new hive. You then give them a frame or 2 of honey from the same hive. You order a queen for the new mini hive (called a nuc) and put the new queen in the split. With drawn comb and worker bees already present you jump-start the new hive, saving a month or more in bee-time. (It takes 30 days for a newly laid egg to hatch into a bee).

So for the past couple of days I've been talking with a fellow beekeeper that lives down the road that agreed to give me some splits. I ordered 3 queens (one for him) and was going to start with two nucs.

Queens arrived yesterday, 1 DOA. I wasn't happy and called the place that sent them. I expected them to say, "Oh sorry about that, it happens from time to time we will put a replacement in the mail." Instead, nothing... "Well they were insured. We will send you the slip so you can file the claim with the post office"! (Don't think ill be using them again.)

Tonight I went over to Dave's house and we trek'd into the woods. He has 70 acres, and his hives work a small 2 acre meadow back a ways. About a 3 min ride in the 4wheel drive truck with his 2 dogs happily giving chase or running along side/in front of us.

Harvesting of the brood went as expected, although one of the hives was very aggressive. Seems time to re-queen that one. We had planned on getting 2 frames from it but after only one frame of honey from the top super, and having both been stung a few times, we decided to move on to his third hive and get them there.

I brought home 2 nucs with about 4 frames each, 3ish brood frames and a honey frame.
Ill check them in a few days to make sure the queens have been released and are doing well.

We have eggs!

2007-12-21T14:36:00.001-06:00

Steve went out to the chicken coop today after lunch and found our first two eggs! Rather than use the laying box that we built for them, they had made a nest in the hay on the floor to lay the eggs. He took one egg and left the other in a nest box with the hopes that they'll take the hint and start using the boxes.

We’re pretty sure both eggs came from Hazel. Her comb is much larger than Gertrude’s, so we expected her to start laying first. Steve heard a lot of clucking coming from the chicken coop yesterday, but he didn’t go investigate until today after lunch. We think Hazel laid one egg yesterday and a second one today, but we aren't sure.

We're excited to start collecting eggs each day!

SNOW!

2007-12-17T17:10:00.001-06:00

We had a good 6” or more of snow this weekend. It was pretty windy Saturday night, so there was quite a bit of drifting. We had fun playing in it with the tractor and the dogs. Zeus LOVES the snow. I looked out the window yesterday and saw him shoving his head into the snow and throwing it into the air. Then he dove into the snow, nose first, and began running (and tunneling) around the yard. Snow flew everywhere. Steve saw him run full speed through a pile of snow left by the tractor, exploding it into the air.

We braved the weather yesterday afternoon and went out to a movie and ran a few errands.

This morning we woke up to freezing fog. I couldn’t see either of our neighbors, or even our driveway! The fog froze on everything, so there are these weird crystal formations everywhere.

2007-12-12T16:54:00.000-06:00

Our weather here has been pretty miserable. We had ice over most of the weekend, so we hibernated and worked inside the house. We were supposed to get a second round of ice Monday, but it passed by us, and we thawed out. It’s been drizzling, overcast and in the 30’s since then, so everyone is pretty sick of it. We haven’t seen the sun since last week! I heard that tomorrow is supposed to be partly cloudy, so I’m looking forward to that.

I took a long lunch today, and Steve and I went to a cut-your-own tree lot and got a Christmas tree. He has it in the stand on the front porch, so we’ll be moving furniture and getting it set in the living room tonight. After all this dreary weather, I could use some Christmas cheer.

2007-12-07T16:51:00.000-06:00

We got 2”+ of snow last night. It’s a little wet and pretty good for snowballs. Last night I let the cats and dogs out before bed, and everybody got excited about the snow. The cats have never been in it, so Norman was very confused when the snow broke under his feet and he sunk into it. He walked with his feet spread really far apart like he thought he’d fall down. Zeus got all frisky and coaxed Stacy into a romp around the yard. I threw snowballs to the dogs, & they chased and ate them. After just a few minutes the cats were running and playing and eating snow too.

This morning Steve got up early and used the tractor to plow our driveway and part of Carrollton St. in front of our house. Then he went up the road a couple of houses and met a neighbor who had had someone run off the road into their ditch.

The schools around here are all open, and everyone appeared to be going to work like normal – just a little slowly. We’re supposed to get more rain/sleet/snow this weekend.

2007-12-03T16:40:00.000-06:00

We went from 60 degrees yesterday morning to 22 when I got up this morning. It’s COLD!!!!

The new roof was great this weekend during all the rain, and I love the new back stairs. I’m not afraid I’ll fall when I use the back door anymore.

Steve got the dryer hooked up today, and we got to run our first load of non-crunchy towels. It was nice.

Happy Birthday to Me!

2007-11-27T16:30:00.000-06:00

Steve and Phil picked up materials yesterday to build a roof for the front porch and some stairs for the back door. They’re supposed to be working on the front porch roof today, so that’ll be nice to have. The porch was covered in frost this morning. It wasn’t slick, but it won’t take much more for it to be very slippery.

2007-11-15T16:23:00.000-06:00

Steve got door hung and the roosts up in the chicken coop yesterday. Once it was dark, we caught the girls in their tractor after they had gone to bed (when they’re calmest) and put them on their new perch in the coop.

Then we caught everybody napping together.