So much good news.
I was clearing the bees doorway yesterday afternoon. It was above freezing and such a beautiful day without a breath of wind. I put my ear to the beehive and there they were, making their disapproval known with a deep far away baseball cheer of buzzing. Good bees.
Later in the afternoon, I was brushing Daisy and felt her calf kick.
Baby rippled along her belly like a little Loch Nessie. Let me count how many days the little tike has left in there.. 39.
Thirty-Nine days left. See how she is carrying to her left side. (below) Her left not our left. This is very common to have the calf bulge out to one side. Left or right. When baby begins to engage, preparing for birth, her sides will even up and drop. Seeing this bulge out to one side means all is well in that department. Of course not all cows will do this.
Daisy will have a big calf. She is an Ayrshire. Queenie is a Hereford – she will have a much smaller calf. So I did not expect quite such a big belly on her. Though it looks like she is going to give birth to a box.
Also she is not due for another three weeks after Daisy. Maybe she is just full of good hay!
Tilly practicing her smoke rings. Little Slapper. She is the noisiest animal on the property. I opened up the big barn doors to the sun and all the birds tip toed into the warmth. They hate snow so have been inside for ages now and loved having the sun in to visit.
An unusual line-up. Son of Neanderthal Man, Son of Son of Neanderthal Man and Son of Son of Son of Neanderthal Man (also known as Bob). Neanderthal Man was our first rooster, he had very feathery feet. He died years ago. Though I have only been here seven years so it cannot be that many years ago.
And Sheila was so chipper today that we are going to start her procedure next Wednesday with a hormone shot and breed her three to five days later. I very very much hope this works.
Last night I bought three pounds of Russian Bees (read an interesting article here) and a Russian Queen to be delivered in the late spring. Russian bees have a natural resistance to the mites that are plaguing the more common prettier Italian bees. (Varroa Mites have only recently invaded American hives (since the 1980’s) but they have been in Russia for hundreds of years and the bees have developed this resistance over a very long time.) Plus Russians are better in temperature extremes, so my father and our research tell me. They are not as pretty as Italians, but I am going to begin a hive and do a comparison.
I would like to have four hives in the end. Everyone loves honey.
That was a good news post! It is -5F (-20C) this morning .. sounds so commonplace now, doesn’t it, but we have the potential to rise above freezing again today. Delicious.
Good morning. The light is coming – soon it will be dawn.
I hope you all have a lovely day.
your friend on the farm
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
71 responses to “Bees and Bees and Baby Bumps”
So happy for you! We need good days mixed in with the others, do we not? For me, it’s just about enough that it’s Thursday. Don’t know why, but this has always and forever been my favorite day. I love it. The box shaped baby tickles me. And the smoke rings. I had a baby shaped like a spaghetto. And another shaped like a pudding. Hmmm. Must have had to do with what I was eating, hmm? It’s rude to ramble in comments. I’ll stop now. Have a wonderful day! (So happy about your bees, Miz C.) x from Milan
You can ramble darling.. no-one minds here.. When i was working I always loved thursdays too.. c
Who can resist a post that starts out “So much good news…” ? 🙂 Roosters in the sunshine, baby bellies, a Healthy Piggie – you’ve got it all!
A wonderful read, on yet another snowy/sleety/rainy day…we’ll be above freezing later, so I’m not complaining! (Hubby’s another story, but we’ll just let him be…)
And I remember those pictures of Daisy as a little calf. Those smoke rings are amazing! Who knew 🙂
I feel buoyed by all of your glad tidings. I love the multi-generational rooster array…
Tilly the dragon-sheep.
Will the old bees get on okay with the new bees?
The Russians smell a little different from the Italians so i am fairly sure that they will steer clear of each other, there is also a way to cross a russian queen with an italian brood to help build their immunity, but you have to very very very slowly introduce the queen.. I am trying to think of another corner i can house the russians.. Italians are terrible robbers.. c
That should prove an interesting bit of shuffling! Good morning to you, c, and hope your day goes well.
I love all your good news. I hope the Russian bees are not spies! That picture of Tilly smoking is hilarious…
Still wet and windy here, but nothing like as cold as where you are. Vxxx
Tilly! She clearly needs a lecture on the dangers of smoking!
especially around her pregnant sisters!.. c
A wonderful post full of new life and excitement! We all need some of that during this long winter. Thanks!
morning beth ann. c
Good morning!!!
I have a friend here that has the Russian bees. They seem to be smaller than the others, but visit my garden a lot as I have more flowers than my friend! Glad you can hear them complaining in there, probably about how much longer before spring comes. We have just had over a foot of snow dumped on us over night, so busy doing a Celi and trying to make paths for the important stuff!
Hugs Lyn
Oh .. groan.. a foot of snow is some intense shovelling.. though i love the little paths once it is done!.. c
the sun has just come out here – aahhhhh that’s better.
And as I saw the first photo of Tilly I was shouting out SMOKIN’ I didn’t shout slapper……
Very thoughtful of Queenie to plan a neatly boxed delivery. Like UPS.
I’ll be very interested to read more about your bee experiments. I use a LOT of local honey, but beekeeping is one grow-your-own skill I admire from afar.
I love the photos of Tilly 🙂
Morning Quinn, i am so glad we got your commenting problems sorted, it is great to see you.. c
Love your smoking sheep pic, that’s brilliant! Does she like a nice glass of wine as well….?
I bet she would too!.. Sheila is partial to a beer so it would not surprise me. c
Such a happy day on the farmy.
🙂 Mandy xo
I’m so glad the bees are buzzing in spite of the cold 🙂
I am very surprised that they survived the -22 but their hive is VERY trussed up!!.. c