honeybees

Wild hive now contained

Steve HardinLeave a comment

One of our neighbors had a wild honey bee hive living in the walls of an old building. Turns out the bees had been living there for at least 25 years off and on. Which begs the question, how did the next group of bees know that the condo was empty and would be a good place to live?

The Gingerman and I went over with everything we thought we needed except two bins, one for honey and one for wax. The wax is old and dark but it is still wax and we were going to have to remove it anyways. I had to run back to the house and get those bins, we actually had everything else we needed. They are going to tear the building down so access was super easy, we could just pull the siding off a piece at a time.

The bees were surprisingly calm the entire time. We had empty frames so the Gingerman cut the comb out of the walls in sections and I rubber banded it into frames. We were able to get brood, honey and pollen all rubber banded into frames. I had 10 frames banded up and we inserted them into the bottom box. A large number of bees followed those frames into the box but it did not look like we had found the queen. As an FYI do not store rubber bands for any length of time, they degrade and break very easily. I broke about half the bands I attempted to use. The rest of the bag went into the trash when we were finished. Neither one of us are very good at spotting the queen but we figured maybe we got lucky and had moved her when we were scooping bees over into the box. We kept watching the bees hoping they would form a line of scent leading into the box. We even built a little ramp leading up to the box. At one point we had two groups on the wall but they kept hiding in the comb scraps we had left on the wall. So we just started removing every single piece of old comb by scraping it off the wall. We started at the top of the wall and worked our way down. As we got near the bottom we had two distinct groups of bees, one at the top of the wall and one down at the bottom. We scooped the upper bees into the box but never spotted the queen.

The Gingerman is totally out of all of his bee protective gear except for gloves and gauntlets. I opted to keep all of mine on. The Gingerman started to smoke the bees as they were trying to go under the building. He spotted the queen! I tried to reach over awkwardly with the queen clip but when I grabbed I pinched her so I had to quickly open the clip to prevent it from killing her. She flew off! We waited another 30 minutes and the bees started to form another ball of bees down near the bottom of the wall again. It was her, Gingerman spotted the queen again and we got her into a scoop of bees in the queen trap and put her in the top box hanging between some frames. We left the setup, as there was a queen excluder on the bottom of the first box to prevent her from leaving the box, until almost dark.

When we came back it was almost dark and there were no bees flying around. We had to shake the box a little bit to hear them buzzing around inside. We blocked off the entrance and strapped the hive together and put it in the back of the pickup. I had gone home and leveled some concrete blocks out in the barn lot so we had a place away from the other bees for this hive. I wired a couple of blocks to the hive stand so the wind could not blow the boxes over. I was able to just carry the hive boxes to their new location. I did strap the boxes down so the wind could not move them.

I did not get very much honey from the hive, most of it went back to the bees. I am trying to gravity extract it now for the person who let us collect the hive. I think I can get a single jar! It is very good. It may take me a couple of weeks to get it to ooze out of the comb with the help of gravity. I have some new metal mesh filters and they are very fine and the honey is very thick’s so it is going to take some time for it to ooze through. It may even have to warm up some outside. I could put it out on the front porch as long as I covered it so the other bees did not help themselves to it!

Who needs a new tractor?

Steve HardinLeave a comment

Well I want a new tractor but what I really need it for is to lift big bales full height. So it needs to bigger than the two I currently own. I went to the dealer and for that lift capability I need to get something with over 50 HP. Which is going to run somewhere in the $50k range without a cab. I cannot spend that much for a little convenience. I need the smaller tractors to run my hay equipment and I need the little John Deere as it is the only tractor small enough to get inside the barn. It takes almost 30 hours to dig the barn out with the tractor and move all of the poop. That is not a job I want to do by hand anymore. It would take me a month or better of back breaking labor. As it is I have to dig by hand for about 8 of those 30 hours. So that dream was crushed by reality, I need to win the lottery.

I got the John Deere loaded on the trailer so it could be dropped off at the shop. They told me that if I delivered it they could look at it same day. It was leaking so much hydraulic fluid that I had to toss a five gallon bucket and spout into the back of the pickup so I would be able to fill the fluid level up, allowing me to drive it off the trailer. It was pouring out by the time I got it off the trailer. They said they would call with an estimate. They called a few hours later, $9K to fix it! The hydrostatic casing had a hole worn in it and the casing and the pump need to be changed, $6k in parts, $3k in labor. I had a minor meltdown as the front left knuckle will need to be rebuilt in a couple of years also and it was $3500 for the left, it will be more this next time. I thought that was half a tractor.

Again, I go back to the Kubota tractor dealer and say I want another new tractor but I need something smaller than what I currently own. It turns out they had just gotten a subcompact in the day before and it was still crated up. So we looked at it in the crate and I said it had to have rear PTO hydraulic connections. I need them for my baler and my smaller sickle bar mower. I tossed in a new 5’ brush hog and 5’ land plane for my bigger tractor. I am going to have to name them now. The Mistress (my very first tractor, John Deere 2520) will have to be laid to rest. The Gingerman said he would take it and eventually do the work himself. He is super busy for the foreseeable future and will need to work it in. The repair price was not half of a new tractor. It was more like 30% of a new tractor! A new tractor was $28k, the two pieces were only another $4k.

They are now going to assemble my new ride but the hydraulic takeoffs have to be ordered in and then installed. So it may be a couple more weeks before I actually get to use it.

I discovered another repair project. The old lamb shed wall is pushing off its bottom supports. I will need to add a couple of new supports and then drill and concrete in a couple of pieces of steel pipe to prevent the wall from pushing out when we stack hay in the building. This is not a surprise but it will need to be fixed before the wind tears the building down.

I had another neighbor tell me that they have a wild honeybee hive that they want removed. I had them send me pictures and yes they are honeybees and yes it is going to be messy. You can see the honey coming out between the boards near the bottom of the wall. Luckily, they are going to tear the building down so we have permission to just tear into the building. That is on the list for the upcoming weekend. The Gingerman and I are going to attempt to find the queen.

Trying to get rid of cheatgrass

Steve HardinLeave a comment

Last weekend was spent going around in circles! We are trying to get about three acres cleared of cheat grass. The stuff has totally taken over the fields and there is nothing left but cheatgrass and thistles. I tried to plant grass about a decade ago without any success. It got choked out by the cheat grass. Our plan is to keep killing the cheat grass until we cut down on the number of seeds in the soil. I will keep spraying Round-up and plowing the field under until we just don’t get much cheatgrass emerging. We got a really good kill on the grass and I was trying out the new plow that the Gingerman brought over. It is an old rotating or flop plow that allows for the direction to be changed. It took a few hours to get the number of pulls on the rope figured out. It cycles through a transport/lower/lower/flip cycle depending on where you are in the rope pull cycle. Plus, there are a couple of springs that need to be replaced. I had to get off and kick the levers every twenty minutes. I do have the springs on our grocery list so I do not forget them. It took me two days to plow, disc and harrow the three acres. When the equipment is only 2-4 feet wide it can take a while!

Annmarie went out and checked on the bees. They are doing great and finding all different colors of pollen. They are not even bothering to eat any of the sugar water we put out for them. We pick up our second hive in the evening of May 1.

The new town chickens we were given are so stupid, they keep flying into the yard where the dogs are residing. Every day, Annmarie or I chase some chickens out of the yard. The kids came down to stay the weekend and they bring our older Border Collie dog Mouse. Our young Border Collie, Chance, just harasses the chickens all day long. She has not killed any yet. Mouse killed two last weekend. Honestly, we warned the chickens that the yard needed to be a no fly zone for their own safety and they ignored us. The chickens are just too stupid to live.

Winter duties completed as spring arrives

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Mr Rainman came out last weekend to help out and on Sunday I decided that the we should actually finish the last of the winter duties since spring is here. We tore the bird netting off of the raspberries and tame blackberries. The berries had thoroughly integrated themselves into the netting, it just had to be cut away and rolled off the top. The berries needed to be trimmed anyways. So we hacked out everything in between the rows then started to trim them back. Removing the dead out first always makes it easier. A few of the raspberries have migrated over into the blackberry row. We cut some out but others just got left.

The netting did its job and kept the birds out so we could actually collect a crop. It’s the raspberries that the robins love. As soon as they start to turn colors the birds eat them without the netting we get none. It was not fun to remove but the year before we did not get any berries so it is worth the hassle. I learned to cut the raspberries short and tie them to a central wire. It helps control them and makes it easier to pick. After talking to Mr Rainman everyone treats their raspberries differently. I had no idea, I learned from my father so that is what I do. I do use sisal or cotton cord so it can just rot on the ground afterwards. It makes cleaning up easier.

Annmarie went out and checked on the bees again. They survived the winter! We have one hive only right now. We are buying another nuc the first of May. We had some moisture get into the hive over the winter and this is a bad thing. I am going to install a gutter on the back of the bee enclosure to keep the wind from blowing water from roof into it. I am also going to cover the back. We have been talking about a tarp but I am afraid the wind may tear it up. I am still thinking about what to use. I have some old tin that with four support boards I could just install along the back wall. I am also trying to be a cheapskate and use stuff we already have on the farm. I am hopeful we will get some honey this year. She did not get stung and the bees got sprinkled with freshly made powdered sugar and another chemical treatment for mites. The sugar helps the bees shed the mites which fall through the mesh bottom then the chemical knocks down the rest. It is an eternal battle.

Our bulbs are starting to come out of the ground and are now blooming. If we don’t get rain soon I am going to have to hand water the flowers to make sure they get enough water. Also we now have six of the big bushy roses planted alongside the side fence. In three years they should totally obscure the fence.

I want blueberries next and someone in Pendleton is offering 10+year old plants for $120/each. The price of a pack of blueberries in the grocery store is $8/ea. It will not take long to save money on owning our own plants. I have four 3 foot metal troughs set up in the orchard on the other side of the berries. I drilled holes in the bottom so they can drain and have filled the bottom with four inches of gravel. I am hopeful that I can get the plants next week and get them into the troughs. We really like container gardening. Not having to get on your knees and bending over all the time is wonderful and as we age it is even more wonderful!

The strawberries are trying to take over their container. I just started grabbing dead leaves and pulling. I figured as prolific as they grew last year they would have no trouble filling in again this year. The bamboo poles are where our asparagus plants are located in the bed. I bought a few more metal troughs at an auction last year and am going to create an asparagus only bin. We read that you could overgrow the asparagus with strawberries but the type we were given (free) are super aggressive and just grew like weeds. It was hard to find the asparagus. This should be our first year that we can harvest asparagus if it grows. Hence the reason for asparagus only bin, it will be obvious and we can fill it up with plants to get a nice crop from. I have a 12 foot circular bin! I cut the bottom of the bin off, it was rusted through, so the plants can go down further into the soil if they want. They have to be planted 18” deep to begin with so I figured growing down another 18” would be easy for them.

The horseradish that was given to me last year survived the winter. I planted it in the ground, away from the sheep and it is just now starting to peek out of the ground. I will dig some up in the fall and see how it tastes. I am told that fresh horseradish is amazing.

Winter is here sorta

Steve HardinLeave a comment

Every year I transplant a bunch of houseplants as gifts for the staff at work. I have taken over the breeze porch as my indoor garden area. I share the space with the dog kennels which actually works well for me as I have covered the roofs of all of the kennels with plywood to make more space to put out plants! I have been cloning my basic plants for a few years so I have decided to branch out and start to grow a more diverse selection. To that end I have started to buy seeds online and have been trying to get them started. I am using a heat mat and now I have a grow light and I am still having trouble. I bought some mini greenhouse and that has netted me two plants. So far I have managed to grow four plants from seed. The tallest plants are three inches and fairly spindly. The smallest one is the size of a pea. This is a problem for me as I have taken it on as a challenge. I am up there every couple of days now nurturing them. I usually just water 1-2 times a week under normal circumstances. The wife got me a new DeWalt shelf system for Christmas, the kind of present where I ordered it and it arrives after Christmas. So I will now have two four foot wide by four feet tall three high shelf system on each side of the door. This is good as my other shelf has 50% of it covered in planting paraphernalia. I may need a four foot wide grow light for the new one but I am going to hold off and see what I can do with my little grow light.

I have almost 15 plants started for the next year. I am trying some plants that require a frequent amount of water to grow. I am putting water absorbing crystals into the soil in an attempt to get the plant to have a continuous source of water and not my normal up and down watering quantity. I also got a better quality soil and have been mixing my own batches for the type of plant I am growing. My goal is to have 35 plants ready to go in a year. I have freed a variety of Jade plant that I have had for years and just recently discovered that it was a Jade plant. So now I will be trying to get it to grow another foot tall in the next couple of years. I don’t actually know what I am doing, I just keep trying different things until something works.

Our daughter and paramour got us the perfect farm gift for Christmas, they got us a cast iron boot scraper! I put it out in the yard near the back gate so we can scrape our boots off before we go into the gravel area of the back garden. So far we have not had a chance to use it as it is now freezing most of the time but its potential usefulness cannot be diminished by its lack of participation. We have great hopes for the future.

The cows are now needing fed about every ten days. The second feeder we brought home from the neighbors is a little small for a full big bale to drop in. Mr Rainman broke open a big bale last time and forked it into the feeder with the tractor. I decided to one up man ship him and opted to try and get the bale into the feeder from the top. The problem is the bale is at the top weight capacity of the Kubota tractor. I got the bale directly next to the feeder head on and then dropped the three point box of horseshoes onto the ground then I started to make the front end lift of the tractor to bounce. Every time the weight bounced upwards I got the bale a few inches higher. I kept doing this until I was level with the top of the feeder and was able to dump it inside the old feeder. I had three of the tractor tires on the ground by the time I dumped the bale. If the bale had weighed another 20# I don’t believe I could have done it for fear of tipping the tractor forward. I made sure to take a picture so that prowess with the little Kubota could be immortalized.

Annmarie had me go out and swap out bee food. We are feeding concentrated sugar syrup to supplement the honey. We would like to harvest a bunch of honey in the spring. It was warm enough for the bees to move around and even fly out of the hive box. They are still pretty dang calm when it is this cold outside.

The table saw is now covered on the old house back porch and is ready to ride out the winter weather. I have covered the grain cracker on the end of the porch with the same tarp. I still need to crack more grain. I have been saying this for the last six weeks but Monday night I used up the very last bit of cracked grain and will need to fill the feeders in a couple of days, my procrastination days are about to end.

I have been looking at various spray on insulation foams for the inside of the old house. I am only going to spray it on two walls in the old house for my craft room. What I really need to do is find an old external door with intact seals and a frame to install inside and on the back door. I don’t want to spend a fortune on doors and I need two to finish this space. But I am not installing door or windows until I lift the room up a couple more inches on the outer wall.