And now there are three?

This morning started with an incredibly exciting job. I emptied a couple of our compost bins. They have not performed well and I was rewarded with a compressed mass of fibrous material that looked nothing like the fine, dark tilth I was hoping for.

This poor performance from the compost bins was expected, as I was well aware that we hadn't been conscientious in layering browns and greens. Neither had we been keeping the bins moist. Todays plan was to restart our composting on a more sound footing.*

After emptying the compost bins, I pulled the lawn mower from the shed and attached the grass box. I then hit the lawns and soon had a large pile of grass clipping piled up behind Rose Cottage.  30% assumed compost making duties and was soon carefully layering the clippings, old compost and chicken coop detritus in the bins.

Hopefully we will have some reasonable compost in a few months time.

I managed to mow virtually all of the lawns, leaving only the verge at the front of the house and the small patch by the garage until tomorrow.

I then pulled on my bee suit and headed up to the orchard to inspect the colonies.

Hive #1 is doing beautifully. The three supers are all filled with honey and the bees are in the process of capping off the cells.  I worked my way through the brood box and, again, failed to spot the queen, but the sight of eggs** and larvae indicate that she is present and laying. I added another super and closed up the hive.

Hive #2 is doing well too. Its supers are good, but not quite as heavy as those in the other hive. However, on checking the brood box I was disappointed to find a capped queen cell. This was a sure sign that the colony is preparing to swarm.

I headed back to my store room and grabbed the components to make up another hive. Basically I created an artificial swarm by locating the queen and introducing her, along with several frames of brood, stores and worker bees, into another hive. Hopefully she will think that she has swarmed and set up a new colony in hive #3.

As for hive #2, I need to leave it well alone for three or four weeks. Hopefully a new queen will hatch, mature and have a successful mating flight, before returning and continuing her mother's fine colony.

Last job of the afternoon was to take Whiffler to the Vets.  He seems to be improving, but is still not fully recovered. He is also classed as a senior canine, as he is now in his eleventh year, so he is no longer as robust as he used to be.  The Vet thinks he has injured his neck and has dosed him up with high strength doggy painkillers. 

The poor boy is now snoozing. Lord knows what he is dreaming with the amount of opioids whizzing around inside him.

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* The shavings and chicken manure from the coop make splendid browns, and we will have plenty of these going forward. More than half an acre of lawns mean that I am never going to be short of greens.

** With my eyesight there is no guarantee they are eggs!