Beehive honey harvest in May

A quick post about our honey harvest yesterday. We noticed that the Flow hives were getting full, so harvested over three gallons of honey from them:

Flow honey harvest

The bees on the cedar hive were bearding quite impressively; I guess it was too hot in there (GIF):

Bees GIF

I also took the opportunity to move some of the spare beekeeping equipment into the recently-completed bee shed:

Beekeeping equipment in the bee shed

Jenn double-filtered the harvested honey, and transferred it into 24 pints and 5 smaller jars:

Honey

Not that we needed more honey; we’re still working our way through last year’s harvest. Everyone who visits our homestead has to take home a jar of honey and a carton of eggs!

Betty’s ducklings on May 30 and 31

Are you enjoying the daily updates on Betty’s ducklings, or is it just too much cuteness for you? Let me know!

Yesterday evening the ducklings had their first taste of mealworm treats… and they really liked them, unsurprisingly:

Ducks and ducklings with mealworm treats

This morning — Bert, Betty, and ducklings:

Bert, Betty, and ducklings

Betty and her ducklings; yes, there are still five; four together and one further back:

Betty and ducklings

One on a pot island:

Betty and ducklings

Betty’s ducklings on May 29 and 30

Some more pictures of Betty and her ducklings!

I mentioned in my post yesterday that I put a duckling that was struggling in with Sonja, who was also looking after another of Betty’s ducklings. Here’s a GIF of those two from yesterday afternoon:

GIF

Later they joined Betty; here she is next to the duck house with six ducklings (a little hard to see them all, but they are all visible here):

Betty and ducklings

Yesterday evening she led them back into the duck house for the night; there are three visible here:

In the duck house

Though I think one didn’t make it back in, or didn’t survive the night, as we only saw five ducklings this morning. Attrition is a natural part of having ducklings; that’s why the ducks lay 15 or more eggs.

Here are a bunch of pictures of Betty and her ducklings swimming in the pond today:

Betty and ducklings in the pond

Jenn captured some pictures of Betty and ducklings on one of the upturned pot islands:

Betty and ducklings in the pond

A view from the pond deck, with the other ducks rushing over for treats:

Betty and ducklings in the pond

So cute. Stay tuned for more pictures tomorrow.

Betty’s ducklings on May 28 and 29

Lots of activity with Betty’s ducklings today!

We start with some GIFs and pictures from yesterday afternoon.

An animated GIF of a duckling going into and out of the dish under the feeder tube:

GIF

Duckling in food dish:

Duckling in food dish

A photo of Sonja half-buried in her nest:

Sonja

Me adding a duckling food dispenser:

David adding duckling food

A photo of Betty and four ducklings; I later saw a total of six:

Betty and four ducklings

A GIF of Betty gathering in a duckling with her wing:

GIF

A GIF of Betty flapping her wings; it’s good to stretch:

GIF

A GIF of ducklings exploring the food:

GIF

A GIF of ducklings eating:

GIF

A picture of ducklings eating:

Ducklings eating

Ducklings about to explore the ramp:

Ducklings

Betty chasing the ducklings back inside:

Ducklings

A GIF of Betty chasing off another duck, as one of the ducklings was exposed in the middle box:

GIF

A GIF of Sonja moving around in her nest, and ducklings exploring:

GIF

Ducklings:

Ducklings

A GIF time-lapse:

GIF

Ducklings by the door:

Ducklings

A GIF of Betty and her ducklings going into Sonja’s nest:

GIF

A GIF of Betty and her ducklings heading out the pop door on the way into the pond:

GIF

A bunch of pictures of Betty and ducklings on the ramp then their first swim in the pond, with other ducks nearby (thanks to Jenn for capturing most of these):

Ducklings on the ramp

Ducklings

Betty and ducklings

Check out the video on YouTube, if you haven’t already.

One of the ducklings was struggling, looking like it might drown, so I fished it out of the pond and put it back in the duck house:

Duckling

I put it in Sonja’s nest, as I noticed another duckling in there, probably from when Betty went into that nest:

Sonja

Here you can see Sonja and one of the ducklings:

Sonja and ducklings

The other four ducklings took a breather on the edge of the pond, while Betty was quacking nearby:

Betty and ducklings

Hopefully the ducklings won’t overtire themselves, and will be able to find their way back into the duck house tonight, or some other safe place.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Video

First swim of Betty’s ducklings

Betty hatched some ducklings a couple of days ago. Today they took their first swim in the pond.

Cat update for week ending May 29

More duckling pics later, but it’s Caturday, so tradition dictates that we start the day with some cute cat pics.

Here’s Bella by the cabins:

Bella

And Spud:

Spud

Spud and Porcini:

Spud and Porcini

Spud and Porcini again:

Spud and Porcini

Bella:

Bella

A GIF time-lapse of the cabins:

Timelapse

A real-time GIF of three cats at the cabins; watch as Pommie sneaks in the back door of the right cabin, hisses at Spud sitting out front, making Porcini run off:

Three cats

A squirrel visits the feeder:

Chipmunk

Porcini and Pommie watching me approach; Pommie retreated, but Porcini just stayed there:

Porcini and Pommie watching me approach

Paladin watching Porcini from the window:

Paladin watching Porcini

Porcini

A special Flock Friday: welcome to Betty’s ducklings

Last night Betty’s ducklings started to hatch! So this is a special Flock Friday primarily about that. I’ll probably follow up with daily posts about how they’re doing and with more pictures; I’ve only seen them on the duck house camera so far, as I don’t want to disturb them too soon.

I did get some duckling food when I went to the feed store a couple of days ago, so I’ll put that in the duck house for them later, though Betty will probably feed them. They don’t need to eat their first day; the nutrients from their eggs sustains them. For these ducklings, I want to remain fairly hands-off, letting their mother take care of them. She will provide them with her waterproofing oils, so they should be able to swim very soon. It’ll be interesting to see how it goes.

Before we get to the ducklings, here’s a peek at Sonja’s nest:

Duck eggs

Sonja started full-time nesting last Friday (the 21st). So the clock starts then for her eggs hatching; expected around June 18. Assuming Betty allows the competition.

Here’s Betty on her nest, a week ago:

Betty

Sonja and Betty in their nests:

Sonja and Betty in their nests

Betty’s nest is conveniently behind the feeder tube, so she’s able to eat without moving:

Betty eating from her nest

Here’s an animated GIF of my first sight of one of Betty’s ducklings last night:

Betty and ducklings

A still image of Betty and ducklings:

Betty and ducklings

Another GIF, with a couple of ducklings visible:

Betty and ducklings

Another pic:

Betty and ducklings

Dark GIF:

Betty and ducklings

Sonja, Betty, ducklings:

Sonja, Betty, ducklings

GIF (with broken egg shells visible too):

Betty and ducklings

GIF of an adventurous duckling:

Betty and ducklings

Pic:

Betty and ducklings

Stay tuned for more (and better quality) duckling pictures!

Cat update for week ending May 22

Several GIFs for Caturday this week, plus pictures of all of the cats: the cute Porcini, of course, plus the twins Spud and Pommie, the elusive Bella, and even Pansy the shop cat and Paladout the neighbor cat.

Here’s Porcini sitting on a rock next to the stream:

Porcini

And watching me from a path:

Porcini

Three cats at the cat feeder; Porcini eating, with Bella and Pommie waiting outside:

Three cats

An animated GIF of them:

Three cats

A view from outside:

Three cats

Porcini went out the back door:

Three cats

A fast time-lapse of a cat playing around in our new front garden:

Cat GIF

A long real-time GIF of a cat on the front lawn, and finding a rodent:

Cat GIF

A shorter excerpt of that:

Cat GIF

A GIF of Paladout jumping onto the cat house roof:

Cat GIF

One last GIF, of Paladout startling Spud at the feeder, resulting in a chase, aggressive posing, then deescalation:

Cat GIF

Pansy in the shop, reaching for food:

Pansy

Bella and Spud:

Two cats

Porcini relaxing under the irises:

Porcini

Very unusual to see Bella by the cabins:

Bella

Pommie on a path:

Pommie

A wider angle, showing the view from our closet window, of the cat house, fountain garden, etc:

Pommie

Cabin twins, Spud and Pommie:

Twins: Spud and Pommie

A wet cat in front of the camera this morning, watched by a more sensible one in the cat house doorway:

Wet cat

Flock Friday for May 21

Still waiting for Betty’s ducklings (could be any day now); still waiting for Sonja to start full-time nesting (could be any day now); plus some other pictures of ducks and chickens (with a particularly funny one at the end).

Here’s Betty, still nesting on her eggs, and not happy to be disturbed:

Betty

Did you see the video of her?

I added more straw to the duck house, and refilled their food and water:

Straw

Taking a peek at Sonja’s eggs while she was away; I see 10 eggs here (at least one under the straw):

Sonja's eggs

She has been increasing the time spent sitting on them, but isn’t full-time yet, so I don’t think we can start the clock on them hatching quite yet. She has also gathered up most of that new straw to insulate her nest.

Ducks on the floating island:

Ducks on the floating island