CAMPING OUT UNDER THE STARS

 ... But still cuddling in to mummy

 THE WEATHER has been absolutely glorious these last few days prompting some of the hens to opt for a night out rather than sleeping indoors.

UNDER THE WING: These three chicks have a night out and

a cuddle from their protective mother hen

 Just as the sun was setting I caught this caring mummy cuddling in to her three chicks as they created their own perch on the hen house roof.
 She's virtually sitting on one while giving a wing each to the other two.
 She hatched her trio of Scots Dumpys about two months ago; a couple are Cuckoo, just like her, and the other (under the left wing on the far right of the picture) is black. They're too young for me to identify their gender but I hope they're all hens as it took ages to sell my surplus cockerels.
 In the meantime, elsewhere in the hen pen,
there's some weird shenanighans going down with two of the adult black Dumpys.

MOTHERS-IN-WAITING: while 

Horatio, one of the cockerels

looks on at the back.

 Both appear to have gone broody at the same time and are sort of job sharing sitting on the nest waiting for the eggs to hatch - it takes around 21 days. Their shifts continually merge but the two seem quite happy with each other's company in the single egg box, but how they'll cope when the chicks start to hatch is anyone's guess. I'm not sure what the little ones are going to make of it either ... I mean how will they tell who is their mummy and how will the job share work out then? I'm sure Nature has all the answers but until then we'll all have to play the waiting game.
 And, of course, I've learned not to count my chickens - all the little white chicks that hatched late Spring failed to survive beyond 24 hours. So I'm still without white chicks although the Cuckoos and blacks appear to be thriving.
 As usual, if you have any advice, solutions or observations drop me a line.

EGGS WELL VERSED

EGGSTATIC: The neighbours are benefitting

from this deluge of fresh produce  

.. Or how a Qur'anic recital increased egg production

I'M SURE there could be a logical explanation but the truth is my hens have been knocking out eggs like there's no tomorrow since they heard a Qur'anic recital.
 Now some of you will no doubt be scoffing at this, but I can only present you with the facts as they happened and you can make your own judgment.
 One of the workmen was digging a trench near the hen pen recently and like all workmen he needed some background noise to help ease his labours.
 Most workmen and builders drive people insane with their tinny, half tuned radios belting out static along with the latest numbers in the world of pop. However this one, being a Muslim, decided to play a CD recording of verses from Surah Al-Baqarah to inspire and encourage his efforts and I must admit as the crystal clear tones filled the air it certainly had a spiritual effect on anyone in hearing distance.

LAY IT AGAIN, SAM : And there's more 

to come judging from this hen's expression

 Not only did it help him to finish the job in double quick time and impress the local council inspectors but the next day there was an abundance of eggs to collect from my Scots Dumpys.
 They are a rare breed hen designated an endangered species such is their plight and I reckon they've reached this state because of their low productivity in the egg department.

CAN YOU HEAR SOMETHING?

 So imagine my surprise when I was greeted with a batch of eggs the following day which worked out at one egg per chick in the hen pen plus a couple more! In addition, most of the eggs have morphed from rather modest little affairs to large! He-who-should-be-obeyed-but-rarely-is reckons it's all down to the power of prayer and while I'm a little sceptical when it comes to 21st century miracles, I've been bowled over by the surfeit of eggs which has been in evidence ever since.

NAPOLEON THINKS HE RULES THE ROOST:  But is
there's a greater force at play in the hen pen?

 Even the beligerent Napoleon seems a lot calmer these days as he swaggers around the hen pen.
 Please tell me if something similar has happened to your livestock or share your secrets to productivity.
 Maybe I should be installing internal speakers into the turkey block and the apiary ... hubby was stung four times yesterday as we introduced a new colony on Welsh Black Bees. Maybe a few verses from Surah Al-Baqara might be just what they need.
 Most Muslims will not be surprised by reading this as Surah Al-Baqarah is recited by those moving in to a new home and many recite it in their house every three days to repel dark forces. In fact the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, once said: "Whoever recites the last two verses of Surah Al-Baqarah at night, those two verses will be sufficient for him."
 All I would say to cynics is don't knock it 'til you've tried it ... you might be laughing now but not as much as me when I make my daily collection. Now who wants eggs for breakfast?

STING OF CONFIDENCE

..Or how not to take your bees for granted

 I HAVE just been Suárezed. Well, not quite bitten but stung and it's all my own fault. Growing in confidence as a beekeeper I have been working on the hives this year without relying on the smoker as I feel it aggravates the bees rather than pacifies them. Instead I've taken to hanging around the apiary observing my little workers coming and going from their variety of hives.

SITTING PRETTY: The octagonal Warre hive 

next to the Top Bar in my apiary

 The aim of this was so they would get used to me and my scent so when I do go looking inside the hives and inspect their frames for signs of pests or random queen cells they won't be unduly bothered. That's the theory anyway.

 Unlike most beekeepers who stick to one make my apairy has a collection of hives including a rather magnificent octagonal Warre and a handmade Top Bar as well as a couple of Nationals and a Smith's hive.

 Just yesterday a fellow beekeeper saw the Warre and never having seen one before began asking questions. We moved nearer the hives while I confidently reassured him that my bees are lovely and cuddly, even the very noisy black ones in a National nearby.

 And then, throwing caution to the wind, I lifted off the lid of the Warre so he could look inside for himself. Having done this I replaced the lid and it was then that I felt the slightest twinge of a needle sharp pain just above my right eyebrow.

CORRECT DRESS: Hubby & I wearing

the right kit for hive inspections

 "I've been stung, we'd best move away," I declared calmly and so we walked slowly from the hive. Once a sting has been discharged it emits a warning smell to the other bees in the area letting them know they are under attack. Fearing more bees stings would follow we made a sharp exit.

 It is imperative to remove the bee sting asap as, despite having detached itself from the bee's body, the damned thing continues to pump poison into the flesh wound. Remove the sting the wrong way and you only succeed in pumping more toxins into your skin so you need to sort of flick out the barbed spike quickly.

 This was done and I was left feeling slightly sore but otherwise fine. Off I went to do some comfort shopping in Hawick cursing myself for having been so wreckless. By the time I got home there was a small swelling above my eyebrow and painwise it was bearable - nothing like the sting I got on my ankle last year which was really off the scale in terms of agony for several days.

 This morning I woke up and was confonted with an image I barely recognised on looking in the mirror. A version of John Merrick, the Elephant Man, was staring back at me.

 He-who-should-be-obeyed-but-rarely-is is away this weekend but he expressed a rather uncharacteristic degree of schadenfreude instead of synpathy down the line as I told him what happened and that I had not been wearing my protective veil. There would have been more smugness forthcoming until I pointed out that I looked like a battered wife and people might think this was his work.

ONE IN THE EYE: By this morning I began to resemble The 

Elephant Man

 But at the end of the day I can not blame anyone else for this act of stupidity and recklessness other than myself. The poor bee who caused this mess with her sting is now dead - once a worker discharges the sting its fate is sealed. Believing her hive to be under attack she did what was required and in a selfless act of sacrifice went after the nearest threat.

 It's my first sting of the year and I hope it will be my last. Never again will I take my honeybees for granted.

 On a lighter note, I was reading somewhere how beauty writers think Kate Middleton's flawless complexion is down to bee venom facials. Apparently the beesting treatment costs around £100 a pop and is the latest 'celebrity must have' to get rid of wrinkles and is supposedly used by Simon Cowell, Victoria Beckham, Kylie Minogue and other A-listers. As you can see from the picture above the lines in my right eye have certainly vanished but so has my sight! 

CAMERON CAN BUZZ OFF

.. UK Government may introduce killer pesticides

 SOHO 2 SILO is normally a politics free zone but that all changed today with news that David Cameron and his Cabinet will decide whether to allow banned bee killing pesticides to be used on fields across the UK.

SPECIAL DELIVERY: My latest colony

of bees arrived from South Yorkshire

 The major pesticide company Syngenta had one of its products banned across Europe last year because of the risk it poses to the bee population but now the firm has just lodged an emergency appeal to get the ban overturned.
 We only have a short time but if enough of us raise the roof, throw a mega strop and sign this petition: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/a-ban-is-a-ban who knows what we could achieve.
 And since I've just received another package of bees to add to my growing apiary, I want to do everything in my power to protect my honeybees and everyone else's.
 The excellent 38degrees people power pressure group says it's not just beekeepers like myself who should be concerned but all of us could be affected because in a world without bees we wouldn't last very long. Bees pollinate apples, cucumbers, strawberries, tomatoes, cauliflowers ... in fact all fruit and veg.

BUZZ OFF! If my bees could talk that's what they'd tell Cameron

and his pals in Downing Street on Tuesday

 The killer pesticides that Europe banned are called neonicotinoids and they are linked to the decline of honeybees as well as affecting a whole variety of other creatures such as earthworms and butterflies, according to a major study that directly contradicts the UK Government’s unhelpfully relaxed stance on the use of neonicotinoids.

 When you get a group of 29 scientists from four continents saying they've found unequivocal evidence that “neonics” – the most widely used pesticides in the world – are having a dramatic impact on the ecosystems that support food production and wildlife, you'd think politicians would listen. Well the arrogant sods aren't so we've got to make them sit up and pay attention by signing the petition.

UNDER THREAT: My apiary which 

is home to six colonies of honeybees

Independent researchers, who advise the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), say that the “systemic” pesticides such as the neonicotinoids pose as great a risk to the environment as the banned pesticide DDT, and other persistent organophosphates.

 Syngenta are trying to wriggle out of the ban by appealing directly to the Old Etonians who sit in Downing Street. We all have to come together to tell the Prime Minister to uphold the law and tell Syngenta to naff off through the backdoor from whence they came!

SILO SNIPPET

 A NEW colony of black bees from South Yorkshire arrived in the post today - you should've seen the postie's face. They were making one hell of a racket but I'm hoping their hum is worse than their sting when I place them in their new hive this evening. He-who-should-be-obeyed-but-rarely-is has gone to fire up the smoker which I rarely use these days as the rest of my bees are very sweet natured. Watch this space.

DRIVEN POTTY BY WASPS

.. Hand me Sun Tzu - this is war!

I'VE INVESTED in a Top Bar hive which operates horizontally rather than vertically. I'm told honeybees much prefer this design and Prince Charles, self-styled protector of the environment and all things green, flogs them from his Highgrove Estate as well (for a King's Ransom!)

WASPS' NEST in the making

is almost a work of art

So when I handled and captured my first ever swarm of bees I slotted them in to the new Top Bar and, using solid boards called dummies, confined the swarm to a small portion of the hive to allow them time to develop and expand.
 Imagine my horror during the next inspection to find a bunch of wasps had moved in nextdoor ... if you remember I lost a weak colony of bees last year to the thieving raiders who launched unrelenting round-the-clock attacks. But this latest show of waspish hubris has taken their audacious nature to another level.
 I removed one perfectly formed nest from inside the roof of the Top Bar, see below and scraped off another which you can see in the image to the right.

CHEEK: This nest was found

underneath the roof

Admittedly there is something rather beautiful about their formation but a wasp is a wasp and should be swatted and squashed at every available opportunity.

 The wasps that hang around my apairy are the winged equivalent to the fox which stalks the hen and turkey houses, but while he moves silently, unseen around the farm these wasps like to be seen and heard.

PAPER WASP: Nest building using a mix of

saliva & paper

 I believe the chief tormentor of my apiary is the European Paper Wasp seen below skillfully crafting a nest out of paper and saliva for its young; a work of art it may be but as far as I'm concerned it's something Damien Hirst can stick in formaldehyde anytime.

 So I decided to do some reading up on how to combat the wasp and so reached out for ... Sun Tzu's The Art of War. 

OK, a few raised eyebrows out there I'm sure but his book 

is applicable to all aspects of life and there was some advice pertaining to my problems on the farm.

 One of Sun Tzu's pearl's of wisdom read: “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” 

 And so now I am going to read up on the behaviour of the fox and the wasp. I really need to get into the mindset of my enemies as I am determined not to lose anymore poultry or bees to Nature's bad boys.

DEMENTOR: The nightmare of us poor muggles from 

the bee-keepingworld. Pic: B. Schurian, MfN

 I've started already and to my horror I've discovered there are around 200 different species of wasps out there designed to make our lives a misery one way or another and last week a new one was found; and just to reflect popular culture the little pest has been given the rather grand name of Ampulex Dementor after the soul-sucking creatures from the world of Harry Potter.

LIFTING THE LID: Inside the Top Bar

 And as you can see from the shot  taken above he even looks like one of the creepy, tortured souls that wreak havoc in the Harry Potter movies. 
Mercifully I won't need to rely on a Petronus Charm to see it off since it's resident in Thailand and not Jedburgh, phew.

SILO SNIPPET

 Our sick peacock is now blooming and stepping out with a spring underfoot. Panic over. Sadly our female Indian peacock is still missing and I'm now beginning to suspect a victim of the fox rather than sitting on a batch of eggs.