Spring's a-buzz

Well, there's good news and then, there's the bad news. Or, should I say, sad news. Let's get that over with first. Last week we found "Red" dead in her laying box. It was sudden and inexplicable. She was lethargic Saturday evening and Sunday morning she was gone. I'm pretty good about these things with farm animals. She was a great layer. Actually, I don't know how old she was, so perhaps it was just her time. She had a great life here, albeit brief. I have ordered another hen from McMurray Hatchery. She'll arrive mid-June. So for the time being "Uno," who keeps scratching along - not to anthropomorphize things - seems to be wondering what happened to her friend. She has really stepped up to the plate however, and is laying with great regularity. I've replaced our Rhode Island Red with a Black Star pullet which I understand are laying machines. This we like.

The good news is multi-fold. Life in the hen house can be rather mundane; they eat, they lay, they . . . so I've decided to expand the blog to include my growing passion for sustainable urban living. This includes my most recent acquisition of 12,000 honey bees. As some of you may know, pollinators in the world are in big trouble. For the honey bee it is known as colony collapse disorder or ccd. And while most of the world is worrying about the collapse of the economy (and, by the way, where's MY stimulus?) guess what, no bees = no food, so, no amount of $$$ is going to buy you that piece of fruit that no longer exists without bees.

I picked up my box-o-bees at 7 AM Easter morning, along with my beekeeping partner Charlene. We hived the two colonies (that would make 24,000 total bees) the next day. Everything went according to plan and the girls are now busy playing house with their queen, and a few useless drones. I will do my best to keep you updated with exciting news. It's all pretty exciting to me whereas it's all pretty textbook according to "Beekeeping for Dummies".