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31 Atmospheric rivers, 73 ft. of snow, massive wild flower blooms in California...can it get any better for the bees? Honeybees here had a challenging time due to massive levels of rain and snow. Most honeybees in our locale couldn't even fly to pollinate the almonds this year to too cold and...

Hi everyone! Hope everyone is ok! So sorry, haven't been able to get into my account for a long, long time! Lost the password, and couldn't get in until this evening when I was fortunate enough to finally guess it! Anyway, as you can see, we are still catching the little critters... Not...

Hi everyone! I thought I would post some pics of the 2020 swarms we caught! Enjoy!

It all started so beautiful! Got a call last night to pick up a swarm in a nearby big city. Also had a swarm go into one of our traps only a couple of miles away from where the phone in request to collect the new swarm. The picture they sent me last night was sooooo beautiful...in fact, for...

Title says it all! For the last few years, we normally only have twins or singles. Switched to an alfalfa/pea mix last year, and wa-la, seeing triplets arriving one after another... My only regret is that we didn't discover this sooner! I think the alfalfa/pea mix had polliwogs in it or...

Hi again everyone! So sorry for being off the grid so long...went through some challenging times. It sure is good to be back in the saddle and riding again! Caught our 5th swarm a couple of minutes ago. This swarm arrived in the same exact spot as another swarm about a week ago. So far...

I took these pics a while back during the spring when wax moths were giving us a bit of trouble with out bee hives... We noticed a sudden decrease in wax moths but weren't sure why... Well, during a night time inspection, we discovered we had acquired a special helper... Might say a special...

How to make a Screened Bottom Board for pennies We have tried both solid and screened bottom boards. We live in a part of California where winters are fairly mild, so I suppose that is a big factor. Solid BB's did not work so well for us for a number of reasons... 1. Lots of crap built up on...

Once upon a time there was a very poor beekeeper. He loved bees and wanted to help them. One day, as he was walking through the forest, he heard a very interesting noise...Buzzzzzz, buzzzz buzzz went the noise! As the poor beekeeper looked up, he saw much to his surprise, a wonderful swarm of...

Welcome again everyone! The 2017 Beehive swarm information thread was becoming quite long and large. There is also a substantial difference between last year and this year in regards to rain, nectar flow, temperatures, etc. I have decided to begin a new thread for 2018. I thought it...

Hi all! We are preparing to harvest our first lambs ever. Just wondering, Is there anything special I should do to prepare a sheep for slaughter? Questions: 1. Shall we fatten them up by feeding them grain for a few weeks? 2. Anything special to do in the last couple of days before harvest...

Well, my wife's favorite lamb is our new white lamb whom she named, "Snow." My favorite of all time are 4 new black lambs...incredibly healthy and incredibly fast runners even though they are only a few weeks old. Last week I saw these black rams running 30-40 mph in our pasture and it was a...

Hi everyone and glad to be back! Hope all is well and wishing everyone here a very happy new year. Having some ewes reject/refuse to feed their lambs... We found a beautiful white lamb on the ground, not cleaned off...enough to break yer heart! My wife fell head over heels in love with this...

Hi again everyone! So sorry to have been away for so long...we have been a bit overwhelmed with all the work around the ranch: Planting new perennial pastures Planting large areas with Fava beans More fencing Excavating Cut, split, and stack 30+ cords of wood Building more hive boxes, tops...

Title says it all... One American Blackbelly ewe totally blind, another w/reoccurring eye infections. We recently started to realize one of our American Blackbelly ewes is either blind or near blind. She keeps running into fences, not knowing where to go. Not really sure what to do. Another...

Hi everyone! I would like to begin by thanking all the precious people that have helped us on BYH over the last couple of years. Thanks for helping us achieve some measure of success in raising sheep and bees! And now to the challenge.... Dorper X lamb [half Dorper, half Barbados], healthy...

Hi everyone! Sure has been a long time since I visited this portion of BYH! I suppose that is good news! Ok, most ewes here are giving twins every 8 months now, so we are very happy about this. We were losing money for the first year, and now, finally, have free lawn mowers, free food, and...

Hi again everyone! Noticed some of my rams slamming ewes daily 1-2 months after the ewes gave birth. These ewes are still milk feeding their 1-2 month old lambs...isn't this a bit early, or, is it normal for sheep? How soon after giving birth can ewes be mated again? Thanks, Soar

Neighbor called us yesterday about a genuine emergency. Spring turkey season started up on Saturday. He mentioned spotting a wounded turkey on his property and asked if we could help him. :hu We gladly obliged. :D He asked about taking the bird to the animal rescue center. We shared a...

Our sheep are still "mowing " the neighbor's forest. I send em' over every morning, they return home every evening. On rare occasion, they will remain on my pasture and eat the planted pasture of annual rye, 3 types of clover, chickory, birdsfoot trefoil, etc. But lately, they really seem to...