Saturday, August 03, 2013

More sweet things

Wait a second....


...that's not a duckling!




Guess who hatched out TEN CHICKS yesterday?! Yep, Emma Muff. Good lord, that makes 27 chickens for us, but my friend Pierre wants to start a laying flock so I am going to foist some of these off on him this fall! They are so tiny and adorable.

How did I know they hatched? Well, Emma had her nest on top of the stone foundation in the lower barn (as per usual), about nine feet off the ground. I had put a kiddy pool filled with straw in that corner, because I know from experience that she makes her chicks do a death-leap (well, no one ever dies! I think they float down, they're so light!) after hatching.

I heard frenzied peeping the barn yesterday, looked over at the corner and saw two female ducks lounging in the straw, looking calmly at a frantic little white chick who had done the death leap but left everyone else still up top. And Emma apparently didn't give a damn!

I got a ladder and a bucket, put all the chicks in the bucket, grabbed Emma, and relocated everyone to the second duckhouse outside, where they can grow up safely!

But I know you still want ducklings, sooooo....





They all dove in for a swim shortly after this!

And today I was bottling honey. This is just the tip of the honey harvest iceberg. Tomorrow I am taking off eleven more supers (boxes) of honey, and there's quite a bit more to come after that. I will be spending a lot of time extracting and bottling over the next little while.


This batch was light and very tasty (the honey at the bottom isn't actually as dark as it looks. That's the countertop colour affecting it.) Really tasty stuff! Right now my bees are working acres and acres of alfalfa in bloom just across the road.



Divine!
Have a great weekend.

14 comments:

  1. With all the chickens coming you'd think it was rabbits. Hey we better not let you get rabbits!!!
    Fresh honey is about as good as fresh vegetables.

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    1. That's pretty funny, because when I was a teenager, I got a rabbit at a pet store. A week later, I went to say good morning and there were six rabbits. The doe was pregnant and I didn't know it!!

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  2. Oh boy, those chicks and ducklings are adorable. Love the photo of the honey and I can't say enough about how good it is.

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    1. I will be sure you to save you jars from every harvest this year. They're all different, depending on what the bees have been foraging on, and when I harvest it.

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  3. The new chicks are adorable. I love the photo of all seven ducklings focused intently on the water mama is drinking from. The jars of honey are absolutely beautiful! As always, visiting your blog is just a delightful experience.

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    1. Ms. Sparrow, so happy you enjoy my blog. You always say the sweetest things! :)

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  4. I look forward to sampling your liquid gold in the near future! Adorable photos of the chicks and duckies! I bet they were so cute swimming in their little water bowl!

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    1. There will be some in my suitcase for you. Not even granulated!

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  5. Chicks!!! Ducklings!!! Honey!!! This just keeps getting better and tastier :)

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  6. Chicks and ducks and honey. Talk about sweetness!

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    1. ANd I didn't make you look at bee photos today!

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  7. The cats want to know if they can "have" some sky chicks!

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    1. Oh now they sure would be some tasty little cat morsels!!!

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Thank you for all your comments, which I love to read!