Here is a short video of me inspecting a hive up at the garden center.

So this chicken naming thing can really consume a lot of one's mental energy. As I so often do with pets that I have to name, I picked a theme for these gals. I figured why not go with some rock n' roll chicks I like? Sooo...Please meet:

Stevie Nicks (because she has pretty hair, and she's a softy)

Kim Deal (because her colors totally ROCK and she's a bit of a heavy drinker)

Joan Jett (Cuz she's the leader of the pack and well, she wears all black)

PJ Harvey (She wears all black too, but she's HELLA CRAZY. Seriously. Fitting for the Cuckoo Maran, eh?)


And and older photo of Rickie Lee Jones. She was too off doin' her own thang for me to get a good photo of her today.

This one here? Well folks, I'm afraid this one is a boy (black chest feathers on faverolles). So for now, we shall just call him Francois. Francois the Faverolle.

Last night we transported our beehives home from Josephine,TX, about an hour outside of Dallas. I also set up two hives at North Haven Gardens in the large vegetable production garden.

Here are a couple of shots of our home hives. They've expanded so much that they'll be getting honey supers put on them today. I'll also put their sugar feeders on. I'll post more shots later as I inspect the hives so you can see what goes on inside them. So exciting!

Went out to the bee farm this past weekend to check on the status of my hives. Here are a couple of shots of me going through my brood boxes (I have 4) to look for my queens.

Beehive frames
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

Here is a shot of one of the brood boxes. After about 2 months, they've managed to build comb and lay brood on about 4 frames. It shouldn't take them much longer to get to the 8th or 9th frame, at which time I'll put on a honey super.

Leslie inspecting her beehive brood box
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

Here's me opening up another of the brood boxes. While the hat and netting are a must, I think I'll be losing the gloves pretty soon. They are just too cumbersome, especially when trying to pick up the heavy brood frames gently so you don't drop them.

Now I'm checking each frame to look for the queen. At this stage you want to make sure the queen is healthy and laying brood properly. Unfortunately, one of my hives was missing their queen. Something either happened to her due to weather or health, or the hive killed her. They were already raising multiple new queen cells, which is bad news. So all the new queen cells will have to be killed and a new queen introduced to the hive this week.

Checking a frame for the queen
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

Babies first time outside...April 2nd...The canine girls are most curious...Photos of the girls at 1 month coming soon..

After only two weeks the babies had already started filling in their big girl feathers... (Photos taken March 26th-Apr. 2)

Silver Laced Wyandotte...Still the smallest of the bunch

Salmon Faverolle...they have the prettiest coloring.

Silver Cuckoo Maran...starting to look very similar to Barred Rock.

Ameraucauna

Barred Rock...So far, this little gal is not only the tallest, but most curious and friendly of the bunch.

Ok, I've been remiss in posting ANY photos of the new babies! But it is spring...and it's crazy. So I'll post a retrospective of them now that they are a month old. Boy do they grow fast. Here are a few shots from their first few days...(photos taken March 16th)

Silver Laced Wyandotte - this one is a total sweetheart

Salmon Faverolle - I have two of these babies...they are so cute with their feathered legs.

Silver Cuckoo Maran...This one might get named Cybill..she's the most skittish of the bunch!

Naptime is always hilarious with baby chicks...they run full steam ahead and then plop to a dead stop, face down...too cute.

First strawberries are ripening...super yummy!

and one lonely fig....