Hello again, from Tennessee Renaissance Farm.
It's been some time since I wrote last. Things slow down a lot as we move from fall into winter. And some things have happened that are frankly hard for me to write about. Thank you for your interest and encouragement. Bear with me through this update.
The late fall and start of winter have been much colder than recent years. With the onset of really cold (for us that's low's in the teens at night) weather, neighboring dogs seem to roam more. Some of the neighbors' dogs and some strays basically formed a pack, which is never a good thing. And so it was on the Sunday before Christmas. The dogs killed six of my nine goats that night, and one the following night. Howard the llama, normally the protector, was unable to stop what happened. It was a devastating thing. I just don't have the words. It was really heartbreaking to bury the seven of them.
Since those bad nights, the fence has been repaired and strengthened. I am reasonably confident that no more dogs have been inside the fence since then. The dogs have become wary of being around the farm, which is probably best for now.
We've had another, colder cold snap lately. I don't think it's been above freezing for the last week or so, and there are several more days of similar weather in store. It's unseasonably cold, for middle Tennessee. I sold one of the remaining goats at auction, but the other is too ornery to be caught lately. I can understand how he (Leviticus) might be wary of other creatures, lately. He seems to be in a better mood, and he's starting to at least hang out closer to Howard most of the time. Even in the snow, Levi joyously comes running at feeding time.
Carrying warm water for the livestock several times a day is tedious.
Having snow on the ground makes it easier to see the surface of the ground back in the trees and brush. I can see much clearer spaces inside the fence where the goats ate up alot of the brush. Being able to see more space open turns my mind to plans for spring. Some more fence will be built. Maybe a small building project or two will take place in the summer. It'll only take another day's rental of the tractor and much of my back forty will be walkable. I really enjoy that thought.
Thank you for your support of Tennessee Renaissance Farm in my first year of blogging. I will need your continued encouragement and ideas going forward.
Things I'm looking forward to in 2010:
- Fresh vegetables from the TRF garden
- More goats!
- Harvesting my first honey! (I need your best biscuit recipes, by the way)
- Inventorying plant and wild life on the Farm
- Sustained above-freezing temperatures
- More bees!
- Fencing on flat ground instead of the hillside
- New used farm equipment!
I thought today would be the day of truth for Hive #4. I started this one with a queen I got that turned out not to be needed by Taylor. I took a frame of brood and honey with some bees from Emily and put them in Hive #4 with the new queen about a month ago, now. It should be all she needs. I
figured if I end up with another productive hive then great, and if not, I tried.
She's keeping me in suspense. Like she enjoys toying with me. She's taunting me, I think.
For the third week in a row, I have opened the small nuc box that houses Hive #4. 
Each time, I expect to see this queen laying thousands of little bee eggs, and each time so far, there are none. But there are other positive signs. It seems that the bees who are tending the queen have somehow grown in number, even though they are obviously not her offspring. Maybe they are expatriates from Meagan, Taylor and Emily. I honestly don't know. But these bees are in the hive, and the queen is still alive and seems to be as lively as her friends. They are not yet 
drawing out comb, which I think is the hitch with getting her to lay eggs, because they go in the cells.
So I put some honey and pollen supplements on this hive today, hopefully to stimulate the girls as they build up comb.
Today's photos, from the top:
- Ian assisted me today. It seems wrong to teach someone his age to smoke.
- Hive #4, with honey supplement hanging on the front and the entrance reducer in place to keep it easy for a smaller number of bees to defend.
- Frames in Hive #4's nuc box.
- Proper smoker fuel (pine needles), rather than the charcoal that caused an incident previously noted here.
M
y nephew was over today, so we did alot of little things toward getting the fence complete and we worked with the bees. He's a huge help, and often is the only thing that keeps me on task. Most of the photos for today's post were taken by him, also. Thank you, Michael.
Emily was looking a bit cramped, so we expanded her quarters. Essentially, the box we put on top (a "super," in the trade) is just like the bottom part of the hive (brood hive). It is shorter, so the frames are smaller. This is because when they fill up with honey, the supers can be very heavy. Smaller ones are easier to handle. You'll also notice the screen we put between the brood hive and super. It's a queen excluder. It is just large enough for worker bees to 
pass through, and just small enough that the queen is confined below. This keeps the queen from laying eggs above the brood hive, so that only honey is stored in the supers.
We checked Taylor, too. Everything is in order in there. Looks like good amounts o
f babies and honey being stored up. It won't be long before Taylor and Meagan get their own home improvements like Emily.
It's incredible to me how every bee has its job and just does it. Some tend the nursery. Some keep the interior of the hive clean. Some assist the incoming workers from the field with the pollen and nectar they bring in. The
field workers literally work themselves to death so that the hive can carry on. Every bee goes through these jobs over their lifetime. On the other hand, the smoker got a little bit out of control when I was trying to be sure it had enough coals in it to last long enough to check both hives. You should not buy animals that are smarter than you are.
Today's photos, in order of appearance:
- Emily, complete with the new super.
- Saved from the lawnmower: a box turtle.
- When the lid is off the hive, the girls come and go via the top.
- Nectar on the left, complete honey capped on the right.
- Emily's queen excluder.
- Don't leave the smoker unattended. Good thing I have a spare. Does any
one know where to get a big scrap of Naugahyde?
Today I
got to open the hives for the first time since I started them last week. By now, the queens and the field bees have been aquainted long enough that they are happy together. Meagan's queen was spotted doing her duty, laying eggs neatly in cells. I got a good photo of her, but didn't want to disturb her more than necessary to bother her for photos. Because Emily's queen was laying when I bought the nuc hive, I knew she was already aquainted in her hive. Today I spotted new eggs in the hive, which show she is 
still laying since moving to the Tennessee Renaissance Farm. I'm going to hold out until Thursday to open Taylor, so that my helper can be here to assist.
Today was also the first time I handled bees with bare hands. It's definitely a different tactile experience, and sometimes hard to fight the urge to swat when the bees walk on my skin. But no stings this time, so I'm calling it a win.
The photos have a range of things to point out:- The very white comb is brand new. Meagan made it since the bees arrived a week ago.
- Meagan's queen was spotted (first photo). She has the white do
t on her back, so she can be spotted easily. - There are eggs in the cells. They are tiny (small as the tip of a pencil, they say - click on the 2nd photo, look right next to the antennae on the bee toward the middle). Eggs are not more than 3 days old before they become larvae.
- Cells that are capped have bees in the final stage of development from pupae to bee. Note the caps on those cells are brown and convex.
- The bright yellow in some cells is pollen. Pollen can range from yellow to brown, orange, green or pink.
- Liquid in the cells is nectar that is being dried into honey.
- Drones can be spotted in some of the photos of Emily. Drones are much larger bees, and males. Their eyes take up most of their heads. I could tell they were living it up while they are able. Summer is looking very nice for them. The forecast for drone
s in the fall is not so good. - You really have to look at the last photo in its full size. Click on it. Note how the bees are in formation. I took it as a sign that they were ready for me to put their lid back in place.
Not much to tell today, but on break I talked to the gentleman who is selling me my first bees. Looks like I'll get the nuc from him and I'm having two more packages delivered around the same time.Awesome!
Hello again, from Tennessee Renaissance Farm. 
