Package of bees from Georgia [H+R Apiaries}

Thanks so much to my Bee Mentors Jane and Rob Wild for installing the three packages this year!

Hive check in

Spring hive check in. Lost a few hives this winter and I have ordered replacement packages from H&R Apiaries.  Call Pearl, she will set you up. My H&R bees last year were amazing.

Tips if your chickens are molting

My birds often molt once a year. Molting is hard for hens. Make sure your hen is in fact molting and not the bottom of the pecking order, it can look the same: feathers missing around the head/neck and wing /tail feathers, low on energy. Here are a few things I try to do to help them out and keep them happy. A complete molt takes about two months and your hens will look quite bedraggled during this time.

1. Keep the coop warmish, if you can. 

2. Add protein to their diet. I do this by adding "Game Bird Feed"

3. Add more fresh veggies 

4. Increase the exposure to light

5. Keep your eye out for things that could stress them out.

Here are the things that can trigger a molt: change in available light and stress caused by lack of water or feed or cold temperatures.

She isn't molting, but she is curious

Hive cleaning

Trying to figure out why the hives didn't make it through the winter. Died in clusters with their heads in the comb. Plenty of honey, so they didn't starve.