The favorite time of year for a beekeeper is definitely spring. Spring brings swarm season! This means that honey bee hives are getting crowded and the queen decides it is time to take half of the bees and leave, or "swarm" as beekeepers call it. For the middle aged beekeeper, that first swarm call brings a rapid heart beat and a feeling that maybe, just maybe, life is still an adventure!
I remember our very first call as novice "swarm busters". My husband and I jumped in the truck and as we careened down the driveway with the dust billowing behind us, we shouted out to the kids, "You're on your own! The will is in the yellow file. We love you!" Feeling like Indiana Jones, we struggled to put on our bee suits, duct taping every minuscule hole that a bee could sneak in through, while maneuvering the truck down the highway. With "Flight of the Bumblebee" blasting in the background, we checked our swarm kit; Sawzall, sugar water, camera, bee-vac, epi-pen - check!"
We soon arrived at our swarm destination - a concrete plant filled with tough-looking guys, now hiding, who had reported a huge swarm of bees on their east wall. By the time we arrived, there were just a few hundred bees left outside. Most of the bees had found their way into the walls through a small hole. Once inside the concrete plant, we tapped and listened and measured and soon figured out where the bees had gone. As my husband got ready to cut into the wall, he eyed the concrete cowboys watching him through the outside windows. "STAND BACK", he yelled as he bravely cut into the wall and pulled the wallboard away. Bees started to fly, but he continued to feel pretty confident and tough, covered head to foot with bee suit and duct tape. He reached his totally protected and gloved arm into the black hole of bees. That was when things started to get a little embarrassing! As a clump of buzzing bees fell onto his arms, Indiana Brad let out a scream a 3rd grade girl would have been proud of. I am proud to say that my husband quickly regained his composure, however, and went on to safely vacuum up a large hive of bees, including the queen, and take them home to a new hive on the farm.
Our fellow swarm buster, Tyler (his name has been changed to protect the innocent), is another tough honcho. Tyler is not your run-of-the-mill beekeeper. He has caused many a near-miss on the back roads as cars passing him would do a double-take. In his early "swarm-busting" days, he could be seen careening down the road at high speeds, fully bee-suited up and with a cloud of honeybees filling his family mini-van. (When you capture 10,000 bees in a cardboard box, you can count on a few escaping!)
One spring day, Tyler was called out on a swarm call to a fire station. As he pulled up in his "Swarm Mobile", he saw a small group of fire cadets and fire personnel all looking at a ball of bees hanging from a bush. Well aware of his coolness, he stepped out of the van and asked, "Whatcha got?" Covered head to foot in the impenetrable white coveralls, with all openings duct taped, and hood draped behind his back, he sauntered towards the bees. While still a safe distance away, he flipped his "bee hoodie" onto his head. As he did, a pair of his kids Strawberry Shortcake underwear, which had gotten stuck in the bee suit while laundering, flew out of his hood and landed smack dab in front of the "grandstands". He stood for a moment, started to speak, and then shook his head and made a bee line for the swarm. Tarnished cape and all, he got the bees and was the hero!
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
Egg update
This is an old post from February that I did not publish earlier, but am sharing it because it gives some good information. Even though the weather feels like we are still in February, the daylight hours have lengthened so my hens are laying a dozen eggs a day now! Scoreboard!
"Up to date egg count - 3 yesterday. 2 the day before. Zero the day before that. With the warmer days we have been having this week, the hens are beginning to lay their eggs slowly. The eggs are ranging in size from small to large, which means some of our younger hens have started laying for the first time. Hens will only lay eggs consistently the first 3 years of their lives. Then they are just "window dressing" for the farm.
I think I have figured out why we went 2 months without eggs last year.
First, the shortened and colder winter days always result in fewer eggs laid.
Second, Bear, our English Springer puppy, stressed out the chickens with his "playing".
Third, at least 7 chickens decided to live, roost and lay eggs outside of the chicken barn. Last week I found eggs in the wood pile, underneath a hay bale, and on top of the kindling piled in a garbage can! So, with net in hand, I chased the chickens from hay barn to wood pile to pasture and back to hay barn, wood pile and down to pasture again, until after 2 days of chasing, I have found them all and locked them in the chicken barn. It will take about 3 days for them to realize that is now their home. After 3 days or so, I can let them go and hopefully, they will choose to lay their eggs in the clean and dry nesting boxes and then come home to roost there at sunset. In the meantime, they are not free-ranging and not happy about that. The warm weather this week should help also.
Several years ago, we volunteered to become part of the Washington State Dept. of Agriculture program of testing chickens for Avian Flu. Two to four times a year, the Washington State Veterinarian will come to our farm and test our chickens for the disease. So far, no chickens on the western side of Washington have proven positive for the disease. We aim to do whatever it takes to keep our chickens healthy and our eggs safe.
Throughout the years, we have donated our eggs to the Salvation Army Emergency Female Shelter in Portland, The Evergreen Inn Retirement Home in Vancouver, the Summit View Church auction, and the Humane Society Auction. They were also on the menu for a sustainability luncheon for Clark County dignitaries. There is no comparison between naturally laid fresh eggs and those sold in the stores! We will continue to spread the word...and egg salad!"
"Up to date egg count - 3 yesterday. 2 the day before. Zero the day before that. With the warmer days we have been having this week, the hens are beginning to lay their eggs slowly. The eggs are ranging in size from small to large, which means some of our younger hens have started laying for the first time. Hens will only lay eggs consistently the first 3 years of their lives. Then they are just "window dressing" for the farm.
I think I have figured out why we went 2 months without eggs last year.
First, the shortened and colder winter days always result in fewer eggs laid.
Second, Bear, our English Springer puppy, stressed out the chickens with his "playing".
Third, at least 7 chickens decided to live, roost and lay eggs outside of the chicken barn. Last week I found eggs in the wood pile, underneath a hay bale, and on top of the kindling piled in a garbage can! So, with net in hand, I chased the chickens from hay barn to wood pile to pasture and back to hay barn, wood pile and down to pasture again, until after 2 days of chasing, I have found them all and locked them in the chicken barn. It will take about 3 days for them to realize that is now their home. After 3 days or so, I can let them go and hopefully, they will choose to lay their eggs in the clean and dry nesting boxes and then come home to roost there at sunset. In the meantime, they are not free-ranging and not happy about that. The warm weather this week should help also.
Several years ago, we volunteered to become part of the Washington State Dept. of Agriculture program of testing chickens for Avian Flu. Two to four times a year, the Washington State Veterinarian will come to our farm and test our chickens for the disease. So far, no chickens on the western side of Washington have proven positive for the disease. We aim to do whatever it takes to keep our chickens healthy and our eggs safe.
Throughout the years, we have donated our eggs to the Salvation Army Emergency Female Shelter in Portland, The Evergreen Inn Retirement Home in Vancouver, the Summit View Church auction, and the Humane Society Auction. They were also on the menu for a sustainability luncheon for Clark County dignitaries. There is no comparison between naturally laid fresh eggs and those sold in the stores! We will continue to spread the word...and egg salad!"
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
The Hen House Winter Blues
You might think that eggs just happen. And most of the time they do. Give those hens a home, food and happy thoughts and you will end up with golden-yolked eggs. But every winter, our hens decide to go on strike and stop laying eggs. As the daylit hours lesson, so does the laying of eggs. On a crisp day in October, I can walk out of the barn looking like Little Red Riding Hood with her basket full of goodies. One week later, I stagger out looking like an addict without her fix. So begins our "egg withdrawal period" which can stretch from one week to two months. Let me tell you, things are not the same around the breakfast table during our winter "egg famine".
It has been 10 years since my husband and kids first came home with half a dozen chickens from a farmer down the road who had too many. (The hens were the first of many "surprises for mom" that required food, water and a place to live.) We were excited as we waited for that magical first egg to appear. As we sat down to our first breakfast of our own golden-hued scrambled eggs a few days later, we finally felt like we had arrived...that we were no longer farmer wannabes but were real "living-off-the-land" farmers! The eggs were beautiful; the brown, white and blue eggs were worthy of a page in a Martha Stewart Living Magazine. The best part, though, was the taste - mild and unbelievably fresh and well-worth waiting for.
Every winter when our hens stop laying, I tell myself and my family that I will not buy "fake" eggs. But in the end, pancakes with fake eggs are better than pancakes with no eggs at all. So in disguise, I sneak down the aisle past the milk and butter and grab a carton. I rush them into the house and into our own BirdSong Farm egg cartons before my family sees. But it never fools them. The eggs we have to buy from the store really do taste like cardboard in comparison...and smell terrible, too! Our hens are free-range and grass-fed which means they can roam through our orchards, pasture and garden eating seeds, grasses and bugs. Believe it or not, that makes for healthier and better tasting eggs than the feed store pellets. (Store/factory eggs can be thirty days old or more and the nutritional value diminishes a little each day. So when you eat an egg of questionable age from the store most of the nutritional value could be gone as well as the flavor.)
What sets off the Hen House Winter Blues? Nature and stress are usually the culprits. Hens only lay one egg per day and they lay according to the number of hours of daylight in a day. Egg factories keep chickens locked inside with a light on 24/7. We choose not to keep a light on in the barn all night long. We prefer to run our farm and raise our animals naturally, which means that, for the most part we trust the cycles of nature and believe they have their purpose. No midnight oil in our hen house! Hens can also be stressed out and quit laying. Cold weather, predators, or even a playful puppy can cause them to stop laying. On top of the shortened winter days and the cold nights, our hens have had to put up with "Bear", our one year old English Springer puppy. He loves the chickens, but they don't love him. His joy in life is seeing how many feathery things he can get to fly out of his way as he comes careening around the corner, sending chickens flying like pins in a bowling alley. He loves to chase them just long enough to let them know he is there, then he's off to find another playmate.
We have been given the following advice to cure our hens of their winter blues:
*Put a heat lamp on them at night. We tried that once and ended up with a firetruck careening down our driveway, but that's another story for another blog...
*Feed them scratch (corn), but not too much because it is like candy to them.
*Put fake wooden eggs in their nest boxes to give them a hint. I am using my onyx and marble eggs from France and Italy instead. So far they're not impressed.
*Warm their water, or better yet, give them warm milk (and cookies too).
Winter will end and spring warmth will come again. Just as reliable as the change of seasons, our hens will begin to lay again. In the meantime, I will feed them candy, keep the bears away, and whisper to them of longer days ahead. Let's hope it works soon.
It has been 10 years since my husband and kids first came home with half a dozen chickens from a farmer down the road who had too many. (The hens were the first of many "surprises for mom" that required food, water and a place to live.) We were excited as we waited for that magical first egg to appear. As we sat down to our first breakfast of our own golden-hued scrambled eggs a few days later, we finally felt like we had arrived...that we were no longer farmer wannabes but were real "living-off-the-land" farmers! The eggs were beautiful; the brown, white and blue eggs were worthy of a page in a Martha Stewart Living Magazine. The best part, though, was the taste - mild and unbelievably fresh and well-worth waiting for.
Every winter when our hens stop laying, I tell myself and my family that I will not buy "fake" eggs. But in the end, pancakes with fake eggs are better than pancakes with no eggs at all. So in disguise, I sneak down the aisle past the milk and butter and grab a carton. I rush them into the house and into our own BirdSong Farm egg cartons before my family sees. But it never fools them. The eggs we have to buy from the store really do taste like cardboard in comparison...and smell terrible, too! Our hens are free-range and grass-fed which means they can roam through our orchards, pasture and garden eating seeds, grasses and bugs. Believe it or not, that makes for healthier and better tasting eggs than the feed store pellets. (Store/factory eggs can be thirty days old or more and the nutritional value diminishes a little each day. So when you eat an egg of questionable age from the store most of the nutritional value could be gone as well as the flavor.)
What sets off the Hen House Winter Blues? Nature and stress are usually the culprits. Hens only lay one egg per day and they lay according to the number of hours of daylight in a day. Egg factories keep chickens locked inside with a light on 24/7. We choose not to keep a light on in the barn all night long. We prefer to run our farm and raise our animals naturally, which means that, for the most part we trust the cycles of nature and believe they have their purpose. No midnight oil in our hen house! Hens can also be stressed out and quit laying. Cold weather, predators, or even a playful puppy can cause them to stop laying. On top of the shortened winter days and the cold nights, our hens have had to put up with "Bear", our one year old English Springer puppy. He loves the chickens, but they don't love him. His joy in life is seeing how many feathery things he can get to fly out of his way as he comes careening around the corner, sending chickens flying like pins in a bowling alley. He loves to chase them just long enough to let them know he is there, then he's off to find another playmate.
We have been given the following advice to cure our hens of their winter blues:
*Put a heat lamp on them at night. We tried that once and ended up with a firetruck careening down our driveway, but that's another story for another blog...
*Feed them scratch (corn), but not too much because it is like candy to them.
*Put fake wooden eggs in their nest boxes to give them a hint. I am using my onyx and marble eggs from France and Italy instead. So far they're not impressed.
*Warm their water, or better yet, give them warm milk (and cookies too).
Winter will end and spring warmth will come again. Just as reliable as the change of seasons, our hens will begin to lay again. In the meantime, I will feed them candy, keep the bears away, and whisper to them of longer days ahead. Let's hope it works soon.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Dewey and Loneta
I learned gardening from my grandparents, Dewey and Loneta Worthington. They grew up knowing the dirt and how to coax delicious potatoes, tomatoes and corn from it. Not only did they teach me how to grow, but their family dinners taught me how real food tastes - a tomato, juicy and warm from the garden; freshly picked green beans and flavorful baby potatoes; and strawberries sweeter than any picked up at the store. They composted before there was a word for it. They were "green" before "green" became a political and social maneuver.
Dewey and Loneta were born on homesteads in Missouri. Raising most of their own food, or trading for what they didn't grow, they learned early on that hard work and integrity go hand in hand. Hard work came in the form of daily chores - feeding the livestock, cooking meals over a fire, planting and harvesting fields and gardens, sewing their own clothes. Integrity came in the form of helping others, no matter how many hours of daylight they had already worked.
As teenagers, one of their first dates took place at a spot in the road called Birdsong, Missouri. It wasn't much more than a post office and a dirt road, but it was a place where a lifetime of unconditional loving began. That unconditional love for family made me and my children feel safe on their farm as a child and it continues to guide my family today.
In 1998, as we began our dream of owning a small, family farm, BirdSong seemed an appropriate name for my family's attempt at farming, organic gardening, being a good neighbor and loving the good life. As I wake up to the cacophony of roosters crowing, doves cooing, and wild birds singing, it seems a good name, indeed, for this wonderful place! As Dewey would say, "now this is livin!"
Dewey and Loneta were born on homesteads in Missouri. Raising most of their own food, or trading for what they didn't grow, they learned early on that hard work and integrity go hand in hand. Hard work came in the form of daily chores - feeding the livestock, cooking meals over a fire, planting and harvesting fields and gardens, sewing their own clothes. Integrity came in the form of helping others, no matter how many hours of daylight they had already worked.
As teenagers, one of their first dates took place at a spot in the road called Birdsong, Missouri. It wasn't much more than a post office and a dirt road, but it was a place where a lifetime of unconditional loving began. That unconditional love for family made me and my children feel safe on their farm as a child and it continues to guide my family today.
In 1998, as we began our dream of owning a small, family farm, BirdSong seemed an appropriate name for my family's attempt at farming, organic gardening, being a good neighbor and loving the good life. As I wake up to the cacophony of roosters crowing, doves cooing, and wild birds singing, it seems a good name, indeed, for this wonderful place! As Dewey would say, "now this is livin!"
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