Second attempt to hatch 🐣 Emu eggs is underway! Day 2. Another 48 days to go until we know if we have been successful.
This time we have borrowed the Mother of all incubators.
Fingers crossed 🤞.
Last time was not successful Last attempt but we only had two eggs and perhaps an incubator not up for the job?
Enjoying the garden as the day comes to a close on the day of the Platinum Jubilee!
Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Just cut a couple of trees from our Christmas tree field. All home grown and carried a few metres to the ?. Can’t get much more low carbon than that!
How’s this for a replica of Chilcotts Farm? Made by my gorgeous daughter. Happy Christmas everyone and a Happy New Year from us all!
The weather has not been bad or good, but the bees are out at every opportunity.
The summer flowers are blossoming, and we are hoping for a good honey harvest come August!
The mornings over the past few days have been crisp, bright and warm!
Letting the animals out is even more of a joy when the weather is so gorgeous. You forget what is going on in the world.
After all, they don’t have a clue and every new day is another adventure.
Spring is gathering momentum, and the spring blossom is beginning to erupt with flower buds bulging and about to explode. The bees are out and about on warm days looking for blossom and sources of water.
I am frantically trying to get prepared. This new hive is ready to hopefully house another colony of bees in the coming months.
I still need to put together loads of frames to replace old wax, but also to allow for expansion and new colonies. Not much time left, but I am sure it will come together and we will be ready.
We have had so much rain in the UK, but North Devon, although wet, seems to have got off lighter than some parts of the country!
In the dryer, warmer spells, the bees have managed to get out and collect pollen. They are returning to the hive with their pollen baskets loaded up with mainly orange and yellow pollen at the moment.
If anyone is interested, I have written a small guide on the colour of pollen and the flowers the bees have been visiting in North Devon. See: https://chilcotts.farm/bees/local-pollen-guide/
Last year (2019) we had our first goose egg of the season on 25th February 2019, this year it was today, 26th February!
It’s amazing how nature’s clock is so accurate. It won’t be long before we have a goose eggs for sale (sorry, still local collection only).
I know what I am having for breakfast this weekend! Goose egg and soldiers….. delicious.
Quite beautiful this morning. Everything covered in frost glinting in the early morning sunlight. This Witch Hazel looked like a little glimmering jewel.
