Say A Prayer For The Bees

I know during the last warm weather snap that my bees were ok because I saw them taking "cleansing flights".  This is where they go outside to poo because they won't poo in the hive.  This is a good thing.  But now we're getting into the wild temperature fluctuations from bitter cold to wet, damp days and this is when my hives die - even if I've done everything I can for them. 

So please say a prayer!

Name The Rooster And A Happy Birthday!

Our old rooster, Foghorn Leghorn, is getting very, very old and he's a really nice rooster.  I wanted to get another rooster for him to train to be nice in the event he died of old age.  I ordered one male cochin chick and he grew into this big beauty.  Notice the feathers on his legs?

But the poor boy doesn't have a name!  

Can you help?  Post your ideas and I'll draw them from a hat.  

And be sure to wish this cutie, Anna Belle, a happy one year birthday.

Awww!  Thank you!

God's Country Upland Preserve Delivers Another Successful Hunt

As many of you may know, this year we started another business in conjunction with Fitzgerald's Family Farm.  

God's Country Upland Preserve

Running your own dogs, or hiring ours, we deliver an outstanding upland bird hunting experience

Right here in beautiful Potter County, Pennsylvania

"God's Country"

Tasty Treats On The Farm

This time of year it's hard for the chickens to get anything green, so I supplement their regular pellets with tasty treats.  

They devour a cabbage head.  There wasn't a trace of it left by the end of the day.  

Grass has stopped it's growth so the horses get nice round bales (along with some grain) to keep them filled up.  

They immediately eat out the center of the bale... it must taste the best!  Then they work on eating the rest of the bale.  

Warm Weather and High Winds

It was such a pleasure to have a day of warm weather in January.  It made getting outdoor chores much more pleasant and the chickens and horses really appreciate their spotlessly clean homes!  

The bees were happy to have an opportunity to get out and pooh.  Bees won't pooh in the hive and they enjoy a healthy "cleansing flight."  It's hard to see in the photo below

but there's a lot of activity going on here!

After the lovely warm weather, during the night, we had incredibly high winds.  It was a surprise to see some of the damage!  This is the chicken's little runout hut within their pen.  I was surprised to see it flipped on it's back!

The wind shredded the snow fence, which helps to keep snow from drifting across our driveway.  

One of the empty maple sap tanks flipped over as well!

And empty feed trash cans blew all over the place!

Fortunately most of the damage could be easily fixed.  The snow fence has to wait until the wind dies down (it's like trying to hold on to a sail!).  But we know there will be more snow so it definitely will be fixed!