A LATE FALL HIKE TO UPPER PICNIC POINT

Goats were getting barnyard fever. But November is hunting season. So we all donned our garb for hunting season and took off. A beautiful crispy-air day with no wind and visibility enough to see Chicago.  We mozied all the way, sampling dried oak leaves, pine needles, tree bark, ground holly and various weed seed pods.  A truly delicious walk-in buffet.

GOATS ENJOYING A FINE FALL

The Black Hills Pack Goats have been enjoying an especially sanguine fall season. Can you tell? Custer decided to convert a feed trough to his private lounge. Harney even snuggled up to Custer for an afternoon nap.  And, of course, Custer had to pose for a glamour portrait to use in press releases to his fans.

WINTERIZING A FIRST-YEAR HONEY BEE HIVE

Added 2" styrofoam temp insulation on three sides, 3/8" thick mouse guard with 3/8" holes on bottom entrance, and new top entrance with 3/8" spanning entire front width. All this for first wintering of new hive and newbee beek. Please comment and advise. Thank you. -Lee

CAN THIS KITTY HANDLE A BARN MOUSE?

The new barn kitty starts the day going for one wounded chicken, then two hours later taking on an entire flock of wild turkey. Look close to see the incredulous deer watching this new predator unleashed on the forest. This might be a good time for our barn mice to seek alternate housing arrangements.

HAY FEVER

Always something new at Ten Green Acres in The Black Hills of South Dakota. We got a new barn-kitty/mouser from the animal shelter. So...we needed to build a hay barn for him. All the while the Black Hills Pack Goats were certain it was all about them, stocking in supplies for their winter pantry. Whoofda. It was all about me, getting a live-in farm hand who never calls in sick. See the video and watch all three plots unfold...

LEE'Z B'Z HOLD AN OPEN-HOUSE

I have opened the hive for quick checks several times, but by the four-month mark, it was time to do a detailed walk-through of the ladies' four story home. It was also time to make some decisions in preparation for the coming winter. Since I'm a newbee, I'm still processing what was inside. But anyway here's a photo record of what the ladies have been doing inside the past four months.

This is the #2 Frame in newest (second) super.

#5 Frame in 3-Month (Upper) Deep

#7 Frame in (oldest) 4-Month (Lower) Deep

Looking in to The Abyss.
Middle of the lowest hive box.

What IS that Monster ? !

It's not easy re-assembling a hive when
10,000 of its inhabitants are angrily seeking
an opening in your clothing to sting to the death.

HOW BEES DO FAMILY PLANNING

When a community loses tens of thousands population over winter then has to repopulate with tens of thousands of newborns in the spring, get them raised and slotted among six job descriptions, all without a top-down presiding leader, then "family planning" takes on a whole new meaning. So how do bees do it? I'm a newbee, but this is what I understand. Also watch the video. But caution. It includes violence and adult bee content.

Honey bee drones have about one function in life. Which, by the way, leads to immediate death.

Each hive of 75,000 females needs a few drones around, so that when the queen takes one mating flight in the spring...well...you know. Birds n bees and all that.

Anyway, while we humans do spring cleaning, bee home makers do their major house cleaning in the fall. They need to get ready for the cold, starving winter. And, since these ladies know there won't be any queen flights for a few months, what to do with those remaining drones who never got any action?

All winter, drones just lay around, eat precious food, eye the girls, and contribute nothing. (Sounds like football season?) So at one point in the fall the ladies boot most (but not all) the boys out. No one knows how the ladies arrive at a consensus decision on what day to do it. Or how they rate the guys to decide who's in line for lucky in the spring.

If you watch this video close you can see this ritual in action. The video is shot at the front door to a hive. One little guy (actually the drones are the largest) just won't give up and tries to sneak back in.

No big deal. If the girls run short of queen-ready drones in the spring, they know how to re-breed some new drones next spring (the female worker bees know how to set gender by size of honeycomb cell, feeding regimine and larvae uncapping/recapping schedule). But they must do it all in time to date the queen. Then from that one mating the queen will have over 100,000 babies over the next few months. Some of whom will be drones that they'll have to kick out in the fall.