New addition to The Old Five Notch Farm!

Saturday we took a trip to Pickens, South Carolina to pick up our latest addition to the farm!

It was a beautiful day and the ride to the upstate of South Carolina was very nice.  Pickens sits in the foothills and the sight of the beginning of the rolling mountains was just wonderful.

We arrived at Bell Well Honey Farm around 11 am and spent a few moments looking around the Bell Well Natural Food Store before picking up our three pound package of bees and their queen!  We tucked our buzzing package in the back seat and proceeded to check out the town of Pickens.  We found several nice antique stores and did a some looking and a little buying too.  A quick lunch of Little Caesar's pizza in Easley, Farmer Man knows what I like!, and we headed for home.

When we returned home we place our English Garden Hive in the front yard and Scott installed the bees.  It was overcast and drizzling too....not the ideal weather to install bees in their new home.  Since the weather was so unfriendly Scott pulled the queen, safe in her little cage, and placed her between two frames in the waiting hive box.  He removed four frames from both hive boxes to make room to place the container inside the boxes.  Normally, you would just dump the bees into the hive and they would then clump around the queen.  Since the weather wasn't ideal, placing the whole container in the hive allowed the bees to stay warmer and crawl their way out and to their queen. They behaved themselves very well and settled in quite easily. 

Farmer man was concerned about getting the container out and replacing the frames so they could start drawing out comb on the foundation.  Sunday afternoon he donned the beekeepers suit, veil and gloves.  It was very possible they would be calm and easy to work since they had not established brood or honey stores yet, but rather be safe than stung! A little smoke to make the bees calm and a few minutes for them to relax before he opened the hive. The weather was once again cold and drizzling so he worked purposely to remove the container and replace the frames.

Farmer Man removed the top hive box with the copper roof intact. The queen is in the top box along with most of bees.

Removing the container the bees were packaged in

Shaking out any stragglers

Replacing the frames in the bottom box

You can see the cluster of bees on the top right of the box...just past his gloved hands

Carefully adding the frames back to the top box....bees on the top of the frames closest to Scott

 

The bees are are safely tucked in. He will pull the screen off the container and prop it up against the stand to allow any stragglers easy access to the entrance of the hive.

The queen in inside a wire cage with a few workers to tend to her. There is a "plug" of candy over the opening keeping her inside the cage.  The plug is there to keep her contained and allow the other bees time to accept her as their queen.  They will eat away at the candy both from the inside of the cage and from the outside releasing her.  We will have to check the hive again on Wednesday or Thursday to be sure she has been released and pull her empty cage.  We added a hive top feeder, the shallow box directly on top of the second hive box, to provide an instant food source for the bees.  They will need a lot of food to draw out all the honeycomb so we will make sure they have sugar water available for several weeks.

We are so excited to have this addition to the farm! We'll update as the hive begins to be productive.

Coop Construction Completed and The Prodigal Cat Returns...

A beautiful weekend here on the farm!  The weather was warm and sunny which was perfect for completing the construction on The Chicken Inn II.  My sweet Farmer man finished the shutters, built and hung the door, and completed the construction by filling in small gaps at the roof line with strips of wood.  We have tried to snake/small animal "proof" this coop as much as possible.  Here's the coop.........construction completed!

Beautiful door

Front of the coop - there is hardware cloth enclosing the eaves

Details of the shutters  and hardware cloth over the windows

View of the left side - LOVE the door and hinges!

View of right side with main chicken door

Back of coop and nesting boxes :0) Hardware cloth covering the eaves once again.

 The other item that Scott got installed is the automatic chicken door from The Poultry Butler.  We will eventually install another in the chicken door in the front of the coop.  This second door will allow for the nursery in the coop to have a separate area, door and run .

We are now in the process of staining the siding, sealing the floor, and we will add an underpinning around the coop to keep chickens in and predators out. Electricity,water and fencing will be added in a few weeks. No huge hurry since the chicks won't arrive until the week of April 23rd and they will spend at least a few weeks in the brooder on the screened porch.

To The Prodigal Cat.....

I had posted earlier about Phathead and his disappearing antics.  Well he stayed home for three days only to disappear again.  He left out two Sundays ago albeit this time with a collar and ID tag. This is the longest he has ever been gone.  We  feared the worst since we found large coyote tracks in the mud down by the barn.  Farmer man had given up on him returning.

Last night we received a call from a friend and neighbor that a big black cat with our phone number on the tag was at her mother's house!  Farmer man hightailed it over to their home to pick up our prodigal cat.  Bless him, he had to chase the little bugger around the property because Phathead didn't want to come to him!  He returned home with a little thinner and a much mouthier Phathead.  I have to admit we missed the big guy, but when he meowed all night long last night....I mean all night long....I was having second thoughts.  Somewhere on his journey he found his voice and he apparently likes to use it!  Phathead is now lounging on "his" throne after a short trip outside this morning to check his kingdom.

 

Much needed rain is predicted for this afternoon so I can't say I blame him.

Although Farmer man is working at his day job, all others are here and accounted for.

All is well at The Old Five Notch Farm.

Spring....just around the corner....

This little pollinator will appreciate the warmer temps this weekend

Although tonight and last night the temperatures have been in the 20's this weekend the highs are supposed to be in the upper 70's!
 

Blueberries...waiting to be planted

This warmer weather has me wanting to get my hands dirty :0) I spent some time working in the greenhouse today.  It is so warm and inviting on cooler days like today.  I am so thrilled that we were able to winter over some blackberries, blueberries, grapes and muscadines that we purchased at the end of the season last year....at great discounts.  We'll be planting them this Spring, and due to having them in the greenhouse over the Winter they are really looking quite nice.

Blueberry blossoms

Blueberries starting

Grapes...just need to build an arbor

Blackberries...Farmer man's favorite

 

Muscadines...doing very well in the greenhouse

Plum buds

Plum blossoms

Farmer man and I managed to get the fruit trees
pruned a short while ago and now the buds
are starting to break open.

Beautiful blossoms with promises of luscious fruit to come!

Peach blossom

 Construction on The Chicken Inn II will resume this weekend.  We are in the final stages of major construction!  We will be working on building the shutters and the door.  We might even start staining the siding and sealing the floor since the weather is going to be wonderful.  Pictures coming soon!

Sleet, cold rain, but still some progress!

  This past weekend was a really a mixed bag of weather!  Saturday morning we were out at the construction site of The Chicken Inn II fairly early even thought it was quite cold!  The farmer man had managed to get some of the pieces of corner molding cut so we could just work steadily along.  That was the plan anyway! Mother Nature had a different idea for our day. 

About mid morning while we were preparing all the wood, it started to drizzle rain...that drizzle quickly turned into sleet! Luckily we were safe, warm and dry in the barn and just waited it out while working on cutting the molding.  We were supposed to go to a neighboring farm to help the farmer man there burn off some fields, but with the weather change we doubted it would burn.  We did head over after the sleet stopped and tried to light the fields off....but it was just too wet.  Our neighbor said they didn't have any sleet, just a really light rain and then snow!  It's amazing how just a mile or two away, as the crow flies, the weather can be so very different.

After talking with the neighbor, checking out his new tractor and new chicken tractor we debated what to do next. It was still cold, sprinkling some and the radar was showing more on the way.  We made the decision to make a trip to town and go to Lowe's and get some more wood that we needed.  It was nice to ride in the warm truck and the farmer man even went out of the way to pick up Little Caesar's pizza for us before we went to Lowe's...he knows what I like.

Lowe's.....that was another story.  You see, we didn't really have written plans for the coop and have been making changes as we go along to suit our needs and tastes.  We were discussing how to make the shutters for the windows and we were going to Lowe's to get some ideas and hopefully some wood too.  Well, about three hours after we left the neighbors to head to Lowe's we finally returned home with additional wood and a new plan! This left Saturday pretty much over, but we now had a plan and wood for the shutters and sofit, stain for the coop that will match the barn and all the wood for the trim was cut and ready for work on the next day.

Sunday afternoon we actually accomplished a lot. It was quite cold and the Farmer Man had stated he wished we had a coffee pot closer than up at the house. Hmmm...wait! We do have a Keurig under the counter that we don't use much anymore.  Perfect!

 A little water, some coffee, and a rock to level the pot....we are ready!

 A quick trip up to the house and the Farmer Man has his wish.

The sun came out and the warmed up just a bit.  I am ever so grateful for Underarmour though! Between the Underarmour and my coveralls I was able to stay warm and comfortable. We worked until the sun started going down and the temperature dropped noticeably. Even with some changes as we were working, here is what the coop looks like at this point:

The front is almost finished...most of the molding is up. Just need the frame up the chicken door opening

There will be another chicken door on this end...this will be the main chicken door. We wanted two doors so when we have a broody hen that hatches out little ones we can section off a small area in the coop to keep them safe.  We would then pull a temporary fence from the corner closest in the photo straight out front to give them their own little run and they would use the chicken door already cut in the coop....a nursery of such.

 The Farmer Man does beautiful finish work...even on a chicken coop!

Still some work to do, but it is coming along

We did received our automatic chicken door in the mail this week!  I'll have to get some pictures of it once we get it installed.  We will be purchasing another door for the other opening, but there isn't any real hurry. We don't even have the chicks yet, and it will be 5 months or so before they will even start laying let alone get broody and hatch chicks. It will probably be next Spring before we install the second automatic door.  The door is really cool! We purchased it from www.poultrybutler.com. Check out their website...they have cool videos of how their doors work. We opted for the light sensor and the timer options. 

Until we have our own eggs, I think I'm going to go to Merriwether Community center on Wednesdays from 5-7 p.m. and purchase some from a small farmer's type market they have started.  There are eggs, meat, milk, and I'm sure once everyone's gardens start producing, fresh produce as well. The milk is from a local dairy Hickory Hill Farm located right here in Edgefield.  www.hickoryhillmilk.com. Their milk is also available in several local stores. I love to support other small farms!  Do yourself a favor and do a search for local small farms or just ask around.  Let's help support our LOCAL folks, keep small farm in business and in return you will benefit from some of the freshest, healthiest whole foods.