On the allotment, Hive 2 bees are still very happy little bees, and Hive 1 bees are still very angry bees. Last night, we removed the spent combs from the Eke (a shallow super tray which goes on top of the hive to add food etc) and replaced them with the last of the extracted frames and all the remaining wax cappings. We'll remove these in a week or so.
The Young Chooks are doing well. The cockerels are mostly well behaved, with some squabbling and jostling for position but, so far, no real nastiness. One of them, "Yellow Ring", is very frustrated and is desperate to get in with the Big Girls. He managed to squeeze past me when I was moving between pens, and he was like a cockerel possessed. He was literally chasing down the girls, running all round the pen (like Roadrunner) with the poor girls running away from him as fast as they could. He was an absolute s*d to catch.
Eventually, he managed to grab Ruby by the neck... it wasn't very pleasant, and I managed to grab him and wrench him away before he did any damage. I put him back in his pen, and I saw him eyeing up the gap between two fence posts, lining himself up so that he could breathe in and ooze through. We're having to be extra rigorous. I know he can't help it, but I think it means his card is marked.
The Little Girls seem happy, and we have two of them laying now.
The Big Girls are toodling along, and seem to be getting on reasonably well. To my surprise, "Mrs " (Mrs Roo, the original Sasso hen) is still going, still looking well. When I say "well", I should probably rephrase that as "She's looking well for Mrs Roo". She's a strange, brick shaped, hen with very short stubby legs, rather tubby, gets breathless easily. I don't think she's going to appreciate having a new cockerel around...but it won't be for some time, so we'll see what happens in the meantime.
The Young Chooks are doing well. The cockerels are mostly well behaved, with some squabbling and jostling for position but, so far, no real nastiness. One of them, "Yellow Ring", is very frustrated and is desperate to get in with the Big Girls. He managed to squeeze past me when I was moving between pens, and he was like a cockerel possessed. He was literally chasing down the girls, running all round the pen (like Roadrunner) with the poor girls running away from him as fast as they could. He was an absolute s*d to catch.
Eventually, he managed to grab Ruby by the neck... it wasn't very pleasant, and I managed to grab him and wrench him away before he did any damage. I put him back in his pen, and I saw him eyeing up the gap between two fence posts, lining himself up so that he could breathe in and ooze through. We're having to be extra rigorous. I know he can't help it, but I think it means his card is marked.
The Little Girls seem happy, and we have two of them laying now.
The Big Girls are toodling along, and seem to be getting on reasonably well. To my surprise, "Mrs " (Mrs Roo, the original Sasso hen) is still going, still looking well. When I say "well", I should probably rephrase that as "She's looking well for Mrs Roo". She's a strange, brick shaped, hen with very short stubby legs, rather tubby, gets breathless easily. I don't think she's going to appreciate having a new cockerel around...but it won't be for some time, so we'll see what happens in the meantime.
