Honey Bees and Biddy Babies

It must be just about time to find bee boxes stacked in the orchard. It's a good thing the grands and I took our long walk last week. While taking flower photos on Saturday afternoon I heard a bit of buzzing by my feet. Lo and behold, a bunch of bees were enjoying the newly blossomed dandelions. They are always prettiest in the spring when brilliant yellow circles fill the fields and the stems lay close to the ground. I think that if dandelion stems stayed short, we wouldn't mind their happy flowers gracing our yards.

My first attempts at bee photos failed, just nothing special, but when I set the camera in the grass and shot low, the results were quite amazing. Although these were just random, lucky captures, it does explain why I occasionally get down on my belly and look through the view finder. Sadly, getting up again is not getting easier with time, which is the reason I so often hold the camera low and hope I've got it pointed in the right direction.


The Cabinet Maker finished up the hen house this weekend and the girls were moved in. They have a double roof over their heads as the new coop was built under the shed roof of Barn 3. We're hoping this helps come winter and the cold months.


While the Cabinet Maker worked on the coop, the biddies enjoyed the grass and sunshine in a makeshift containment center. I even saw a few lay down on their sides in the grass, stretch out their legs, and close their eyes. It never lasted long as another bird would inevitably come along, step on the sleeping one, and up she'd hop. I think they thought they'd died and gone to bird heaven.


I wasn't sure about the tiny chicks we brought home at the end of March. I had no clue how to take care of those chirping balls of fluff. Every time I came into the room they would squawk and run in fear to the far end of the box while I filled the food and water containers. Now they come running toward me when I feed them and I am falling in love with a crazy flock of Barred Plymouth Rock chickens. Who'd a thunk?