Honeybee late winter update

On Saturday, March 2, we conducted a partial inspection of two (out of three) top bar bee hives. At noon the weather was 40 degrees and sunny, so we worked very quickly. We had to shovel snow out of the bee yard to access the hives. Our main purpose was to insure the bees would have enough food to survive the late winter.

Last week, I made fondant bee candy following the recipe in Christy Hemenway's new book The Thinking Beekeeper. Fondant is a good way to feed bees in the winter because it won't freeze like sugar syrup. It's important to get the fondant as close as possible to the bee cluster.

We opened the red hive first because we're certain there are still living bees in that hive. Sure enough, those girls assured us that they didn't appreciate our intrusion. Since we found plenty of honey dripping from the combs, we quickly closed the hive.

Next we opened the blue hive where we also found plenty of honey. Rather than annoy any remaining bees, we closed up the hive and covered it with the insulation blankets. There hasn't been any activity from this hive in the last few weeks, and I'm unsure if there are any survivors.

Our green hive hasn't shown any activity since December. We presume it is dead and didn't bother to open it in winter conditions. There was plenty of honey in that hive last fall, which we'll retrieve in the spring.

Reports from other beekeepers have been discouraging. The survival rate this winter is very low mostly due to mites. If we can keep just one hive alive, we will consider it a huge success. Bees reproduce quickly in the spring and we can use the increase to make splits for the empty hives. Late winter is the most challenging!  

Egg Production Increase

At long last, all our hens are back in production! Crocus the Easter Egger laid a beautiful green egg this morning, her first egg since October 26. Her molt took a looong time and she's very well rested. Daisy the Delaware lays a shiny medium brown egg nearly every day, and Squill the Speckled Sussex lays a perfect tan egg several times a week. The Buckeye-Delaware hybrids lay dark brown eggs just like clockwork. Since beginning artificial lighting in mid-January, our egg production has increased from zero eggs per week to two dozen eggs per week. The hens are more active, look healthy and talk happily when we step outside. Remember, folks, it's not the snow that effects egg production, it's all about light.

Honeybee Cleansing Flight

On Monday, February 18, daytime temperatures at Red Bucket Farm approached 45 degrees with full sunshine. The honeybees in two of my topbar hives took the opportunity to come outside for quick cleansing flights (they poop outside of the hive). You can see them in this brief video. Unfortunately, my third hive appears to be dead. We hope to have enough surviving bees to make splits in the spring. Stay tuned for further developments!

Snow Maintenance

Snow removal and maintenance has become a daily ritual at Red Bucket Farm. The hens are snug in their coop in spite of the awesome snow curl extending off the roof. They have access to the outdoors and will occasionally venture out to their little day coop (left in photo above). Rain doesn't bother them, but they don't like the snow. We shovel snow out of part of the chicken yard so they have a little space to wander. We need to be careful that the mounded snow piles don't create an easy-access ramp for the foxes and coons.

I clear off the beehives following each snow fall. Snow is a good insulator and it's not necessary to remove it from the sturdy wooden boxes, but I like to think that the sunshine on the tar paper and insulation blankets will help keep them a few degrees warmer.

These low hoop houses grew greens successfully until Thanksgiving. I should have taken them down at that time, because sweeping snow off the fragile plastic covering is high maintenance. There is still a little spinach growing inside there, but it would survive beneath the snow. Next year I'll use the portable hoops until Thanksgiving and then disassemble them until March.

I love the simple peace of a snowfall and the restfulness that winter brings to the earth. Too bad I didn't remember to rescue St. Francis!

Return of the Eggs

The hens at Red Bucket Farm are laying eggs once again! After a long winter rest, the girls are back to work. Supplemental lighting has been very helpful and we will make this a regular part of our flock maintenance.

Daisy the Delaware began laying last weekend and is producing daily. She was quickly joined by Squill the Speckled Sussex. Now the Buckeye-Delaware hybrid pullets are getting into the action, too. Our Easter Egger is still finishing her molt, so her green eggs will be delayed until she is ready.

The flock is noisier and more active than they have been in months. It's still snowing outside, but spring is on the way and the chickens love the increase in day light, both supplemental and natural.

To celebrate the resurgence in egg production, tonight's menu includes tortilla espanola, a Mediterranean potato and egg omelette. Hooray for backyard hens!

Lighting the Coop

We began lighting our chicken coop a week ago. We installed compact fluorescent bulbs in the rafters above the covered run and the hen house. The lights shine through the hardware cloth ceiling to the run below. With this arrangement there is very little chance that the coop will catch fire.

Coop fires happen too frequently. Many farmers use wood shavings, hay and straw as bedding materials, which will make any coop a tinder box. It's important to be very cautious when lighting or heating a chicken coop.

Our lights are set on a timer to turn on at 4 am and off at 7 am. This extends the day for the hens to about 13 hours of light, which is roughly the equivalent of daylight in April. We hope this is enough light to stimulate egg production. We chose to not extend the light in the evenings because this confuses the birds regarding bedtime. If the lights shut off suddenly at 9 pm, it will be too dark for the girls find their way to the roost. 

We'll stop using the lights as the spring progresses. We plan to resume lighting later in the year, but not until after the girls have a chance to molt. If we begin lighting too early in the fall, it may cause the hens to delay their molt until mid-winter when it is dangerously cold weather. Instead, we'll allow the girls to have a natural rest in the fall, and begin lighting again after the winter solstice. 

The new schedule has been working reasonably well. The girls are up early in the morning, scratching and feeding in their coop. But the last week has been a strange transition for them. They've gone to bed at 4 pm in spite of the continuing day light. I think they're tired out with the sudden extension of their day. Perhaps they need their beauty sleep! 

Still....no eggs yet. 

Delayed Egg Laying

Remember Thelma and Louise? These two girls joined our urban farm in late September 2012. We purchased them from a local farmer as pullets about three months old. They are a Delaware-Buckeye hybrid, which should be an excellent egg layer and winter hardy.

It was our hope that these two would start laying eggs around Thanksgiving or Christmas, but the New Year has arrived and they are still unproductive. They are now fully mature and could be laying.

I've just learned that in order for a spring chick to begin laying in the same season that she's hatched, she must have an early start. Chicks hatched in March and April will certainly begin to lay in the late summer or fall, when daylight is still adequate to stimulate egg-laying hormones. But chicks hatched in mid to late summer won't mature until later in the fall and early winter, when daylight has become too short. (Note to self: order chicks for early delivery!)

After three months of feeding expensive organic chicken feed to unproductive birds, I'm reconsidering the all natural daylight approach to chicken keeping. These girls are working hens; I can't afford to keep chickens as pets. All they need to stay productive is more light. Stay tuned for the update.