This is the extra comb and the queen box

This would look super fancy without that piece of hay on the plate

Checking in

It's been a month with the bees and it's time to add the deep hive and to make sure the queen has gotten out of her box. Since their numbers are growing rapidly the deep hive will give them more space so they don't swarm. We are mainly looking for a capped brood meaning the queen is laying eggs and covers them with wax. And also to make sure there are no queen cells because that's a sign they are about to swarm because of over crowding.

...like rabbits

Rabbits get pregnant...while they are pregnant. I went outside to do the evening rounds of food and guess what I found in the rabbit hutch...more baby rabbits!!! WTF! So I had to scramble and get the older rabbit babies out, luckily they had already weaned themselves and they are old enough to be separated from the mother. So we have 5 more bunnies. She must have gotten pregnant the day before she gave birth to the other ones because the first batch are 5 weeks old on monday. That poor rabbit! She hasnt had contact with a male in over a month! I really feel like these were immaculately conceived. Unless rabbits throw semen...nasty. i'm putting the first batch of babies up for sale as soon as I get some cute pictures of them, so I could use that money to get more wood for the garden.
Speaking of the garden, that big black girl rabbit keeps escaping and eating my seedlings. The garden is ruined!! I have to start from scratch! And she keeps getting out of everything I put her in. I have to solve this problem soon or I'll miss this planting season.

So much to do

So we have permission to farm on the empty lot next door. Now is crunch time. I have the dirt to fill the beds delivered already, I have the wood to build the beds. All that is left to get is the manure. I have to sit and wait for my special friend from the feed store to come through, since she has a truck and poo connections. Hopefully this week I'll have everything pulled together and be able to start building.

In the meantime I've built another bunny house, chicken wired the garden to keep the ducks from trampling the seedlings, a little too late though so I have to start that all over again. Acquired some pine bark for the new garden. Started new seedlings for the community garden which I have to take over today and transplant so I dont look neglectful compared to everyone else's beds.

Here's a lis of things still left to do:
tie up tomato plants
start more seedlings
mow the lot
trim goat hooves
built big duck shelter
wean the rabbit babies slowly
beehive maintenance, check queen

spray pear tree with pepper mixture to get rid of squirrels
Last year every single pear was eaten! Three pear trees and no pears! Not this year! We've hung cd's, tied fake owls up, and now we are going to make a pepper mixture to spray them. Hopefully this will work.