The Lusty Month of May- Chickens, Bees & Berries

So much has happened in the past 2 weeks!  We have added some ladies to our flock of chickens. The Laird's friend gave us 2 of his Copper Maran laying hens, plus 4 month old chicks.  Our hens are named, The Queen Mother & Diana.  Within the first 24 hours of having them at Redwoodshire we had 2 different escaping events- but thankfully they both returned and we are wiser in the ways of these chickens skills.

We have a double brooder set up in the dining room.  The newest princesses (on the right) are: Mulan, Pocahontas, Jasmine & Tiana.  When the weather warms up a bit, the Copper Marans (right) will head out to join Queen Mother & diana in the coop.  The little ones will head out shortly after that.  We still have to secure the chicken run, shingle the roof, & install the windows.

 Our original chicks are growing so quickly.  Their feathers are so beautiful!  We currently have 4 different breeds of chickens- and because the Americanas can lay different colors, we may have 4 different color eggs in our collections.  We will have to wait until they start laying to see what color eggs Cinderella & Belle will produce.  The other chickens will range from dark chocolate brown, to light brown.

   

Here are some blossoms on a blueberry bush.  It's the 3rd season for these blueberries and it looks like it's going to be an amazing year.  Both baby apple trees are slowly but surely growing and getting better looking with each passing year.  

It is swarm season, and the Laird's friend also caught us a swarm from one of his hives.  Two weeks ago, his bees swarmed for the first time this season.  Despite his best efforts to catch them for us, they swarmed and found one of this other hives that was empty because the hive didn't make it through winter.  Yesterday they swarmed again (multiple times) and he was able to capture them in this box.

The Laird brought them home, and together we donned our veils and gloves and a good flashlight and headed for the hive.  Both anxious to remove the lid and get to work- we set to work.  I lifted the lid.  The Laird flipped the box, and banged the bees into the hive.  Then we quickly replaced the top bars.  The darkness made it difficult to see what we were doing, but we're hoping the queen made it into the hive.  There are a number of bees still lingering in the nuc box.  Now we just watch and wait, and then watch some more.  And take a few photos too! Really looking forward to the awesome opportunities that bees and chickens will lend towards my photography.

Our Top Bar Hive has a sweet observation window.  We are able to open it up and see what they are up to.  Day 1- the bees are mostly  clustered in the corner & near one entrance.  Some bees are still clustered on the nuc box.  There is some activity outside of the hive.

Things are very exciting here at Redwoodshire.  We read lots of books about bees and chickens over winter, but have had to get the books back out to refresh our memory.  In addition to the livestock, we've been harvesting first fruits of rhubarb & asparagus.  We added 10 Queen Anne Golden Raspberries to our 3 year old Red raspberry row.  Not sure what this first year will amount to, but I have heard that the Golden Raspberries are amazing.   We are very grateful for the help we have had from friends who are helping us enter new territory of homesteading (chickens & bees).  I hope we can be those kind of friends to eager learners in the future, once we have skills to offer.