We extract a honey bee colony from the floor cavity of a second story bedroom.
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BubbaTube # 11 – Honey Bee Extraction
BubbaTube # 10 – Capturing and Hiving a swarm.
I fall behind on beekeeping tasks due to a bout with bronchitis and end up dealing with a swarm. Good times.
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It’s just Bid’ness, yo.
You may have noticed some ads floating around the website as of late, and you may occasionally hear me plug a company or website on the podcast. In the interest of being transparent with my audience, I thought you guys might want to know what’s going on with the site.
First let me say that I don’t take advertising lightly. Part of what I call “brand integrity” is conducting every business transaction with the best possible interest of our customers in mind. That said, I know I don’t have to tell you that things are getting tight financially. So in an effort to avoid raising product prices, I’m looking at alternative revenue streams. The most obvious one is advertising.
But brand Integrity also implies that we conduct our business transparently and in a trustworthy manner. So when we advertise something, you can safely assume that we have done business with the company, actually used the product(s), and feel comfortable making a personal endorsement. And we believe that putting an ad on the site or in the podcast should be nothing less than a personal endorsement.
We’ve been approached by a myriad of marketing companies wanting to advertise on the show and website, but none of them could tell us what products or companies would be displayed in the ad. They go about it backwards, first securing the advertising space (an agreement to host ads on our site) and then sell that space to their clients. Our business model is based on building relationships, and such a practice runs counter to what we believe customer service should be.
How does it work? Well it’s simple. When you click on one of the ads and then buy something from that company, I get a small percentage. At the time of this writing the only company we’re advertising for is Safecastle Royal – which pays 5% on each sale.
Just thought you might want to know.
Garden 2011
While my son and I were out backpacking, Laura got busy and planted the whole garden. That is one amazing woman.
The garden gets planted
BubbaCast # 54
Part 2 of 2 where Laura and I discuss the ins and outs of owning and caring for horses.
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Music: Greg Smith and the Broken English
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Some of the music provided by Mevio’s Music Alley. Check it out at ‘music.mevio.com‘
BubbaCast # 53
Part 1 of 2 where Laura and I go through some long overdue updates, take some great feedback, answer some listener questions and talk at length about buying and owning horses.
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Music: Lou Watson
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Swarm Season is Upon Us
Here’s some pics from my weekend spent sweating in a beesuit. Early for swarms, but there sure seem to be more this year than last.
A sizable swarm in a tree
One of my hives threw this swarm on a warm saturday afternoon. I eventually managed to hive it up, but I missed the queen the first time around.
On my second attempt, I managed to locate the queen and put her in a screend box. Knowing they won’t abandon the queen, I left them to their own devices and came back later that night to pick up the cluster. Easy peasy.
BubbaCast # 52
A rambling discussion on “duh! #winning! with honey bees” and my honey bee blood, goats, Japan, milking, disbudding, bees, springtime bee stuff, and some info on building swarm traps.
Tiger Blood
Video on Swarming and Swarm Traps
Udderly EZ Milker
Radation Map
Info on doing spring hive splits
Whitepaper on Varroa management in honey bee colonies from NCSU(.PDF)
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Living Within Our Means
A video from 35 years ago that is more true today than ever. Think about this and consider the importance of independence in your daily life.
Disbudding Kids
Most goat owners will tell you that a goat with horns (not to be confused with a horny goat) is dangerous. Goats are cute and generally sweet animals, but make no mistake, they have evolved over millions of years to use those horns with deadly effectiveness. In the wild, goats use their horns to gore or butt whatever happens to be the target of their animosity, be it a predator or a herd mate. I’ve even heard stories of bucks knocking over or killing full grown cows.
However, in captivity, the need for self defence is greatly reduced. Horns get caught in fences and feeders, pose a risk to other goats and owners, and are generally a pain to deal with. As such, some goat owners choose to disbud their goat kids to keep the horns from ever growing in at all. This process has recently been the subject of controversy in a number of circles, often being lumped in with general animal cruelty. I don’t think you’ll find much argument about the fact that it is unpleasant and painful for the kids, but after much examination, I believe (at least in our situation) the benefits outweigh the draw backs.
Compare the 20 seconds of pain to a lifetime of horn trimming (and associated risks), potential injuries to other animals and people, quality of life if the goat is ever sold, etc. In my mind disbudding comes out on top. That’s not at all to say that it is enjoyable. It’s not. Far from it. Anyone who tells you otherwise has no business keeping these majestic animals.
The process of disbudding involves burning off the cells that produce the horns on the goats head. It’s as simple as it sounds. Disbudding irons that glow red hot in a darkened room are manufactured and sold for this express purpose. The tip of the iron is applied to the goat’s head over the horn nubs where it cauterises the skin and nerves, killing the cells that are responsible for horn growth. In my experience, the kid will usually cry out and often urinate on itself. The only up side to the whole thing is that it is quick – only a few seconds per horn, and that the nerves are burned off immediately making the pain short lived – or so I’m told. I believe that there is some truth to this because after the process, the kids often go right back to playing and romping around as though nothing has happened.
It’s a simple process but disbudding should only be attempted by someone who knows how to do it properly. A botched disbudding can lead to brain damage, disfigurement, or even death. All that and never mind the burns to the person doing the disbudding. In our case, we went to our vet for guidance. She did the disbudding, but I asked her to show me how to do it properly so that next time we can take care of it on the goats schedule instead of ours or the vets. I figure we owe them that at least, right?
Each goat owner must decide for themselves whether disbudding is appropriate for their herd. But properly done, I believe that in most instances this practice is a necessary part of raising goats. The goats and the owner are safer and usually better off in the long run.
It doesn’t make it any easier though.
One of our does a few hours after being disbudded.