Monthly Archives: May 2024

Chicken hatching update

Posted on May 23, 2024 by james

I weighed the trays of eggs in the incubators this morning and wasn’t happy with the results. They’d both lost twice as much weight as they should have. Investigation of the pump for the first incubator showed that the water … Continue reading →

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Spring Harvest

Posted on May 23, 2024 by james

Today I dropped over to take supers off some of my hives that have been next to a field of oilseed rape. I’m a bit late with this and it may already have crystallised, but we’ll see. It’s a quite … Continue reading →

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Memory Lane, 14th June 2023: First new potatoes of the season

Posted on May 23, 2024 by james

Harvested today, a variety I’ve not tried before but thought I might as well give a go because I’m struggling to get hold of any International Kidney. These are Red Duke of York. They seem to be perfectly acceptable to … Continue reading →

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Well, that’s hornet!

Posted on May 23, 2024 by james

I went to hunt for some kit in my bee shed today and as I turned around to close the door afterwards almost had my head taken off by a queen hornet leaving. I hung around for a while and … Continue reading →

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More bait hive action

Posted on May 23, 2024 by james

My concerns about one of my colonies potentially swarming were not helped today by far more action around my bait hive. I tried to follow the flight paths of the scouts though and they seem to be heading off the … Continue reading →

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No dig diary, 20th May 2024

Posted on May 23, 2024 by james

Well, I’ve run out of compost for sowing at the moment, but I can buy a little time perhaps. I’ve not sown carrots nor parsnips yet due to the weather, so today was time to get on with them. I … Continue reading →

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Memory Lane, 10th June 2023: This is why you want a bait hive

Posted on May 20, 2024 by james

Because if a swarm ends up somewhere like this, it gets expensive for someone. I really couldn’t deal with this. At least some of the tiles would have to come off for a start and a few of them were … Continue reading →

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An odd swarm call

Posted on May 20, 2024 by james

I received a call about a swarm this afternoon, but it didn’t go quite the way I expected… The caller wanted to know if I had a box he could use to keep a swarm that had arrived in his … Continue reading →

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Oilseed rape flowers are disappearing

Posted on May 20, 2024 by james

And right next to some of my hives, too. Hopefully there’s at least some Spring honey there to be had, though if they’ve eaten it all on the days they couldn’t fly I shouldn’t be entirely surprised. Anyhow, it means … Continue reading →

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No dig diary, 19th May 2024

Posted on May 20, 2024 by james

More sowing in the greenhouse today. Mostly climbing beans and cucurbits — the stuff that needs something bigger than a module tray. Beans mostly seem to take care of themselves, but the last few years I’ve had problems getting cucurbits … Continue reading →

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