5 Acres & A Dream

April 10, 2015

On Goat Mothering

It's been interesting to watch our goats over the years. One would think that the mothering instinct is a consistently predictable quality. Not so.

Daphne's twins first outing

The very first doe to kid here was CryBaby. Does anybody remember her? She was a first freshener and a good little mom. She took her little buckling with her everywhere from day one. Trouble is, he'd fall asleep somewhere out in the pasture and she wouldn't remember where he was. She'd run around in a panic trying to find him. I'd have to go find him and show her where he was.

Our second doe to kid was Surprise. She was the opposite of CryBaby in that she would hide her kids in a corner in the goat shed. One time I got them out to show to friends. Surprise immediately came over, rounded them up, and took them back.

Mother goats recognize their kids by tail end smell.

This little gal has the happiest face!

Lily seemed to have the least mothering instinct of all my goats. Her first freshening was touch-and-go for awhile because she didn't know where those little goats came from, what they were for, and what they wanted from her. She accepted them after a little coaxing, but she would let anybody and their brother butt her kids all over the place.

What is this stuff?

The one doing the butting was usually Ziggy, who would flatten anybody and everybody who came anywhere near her kids. But it wasn't just to set boundaries, it was ongoing even after everyone got the message. I later saw Lily and one of her nearly grown girls gang up on Ziggy almost a year later, as though in pay-back.

Surprise was herd queen and so bossed everybody around, but she had a mean streak. She would sneak up on Ziggy's or Lily's kids just to give them a swift, unnecessary butt. If anyone came near her without permission, look out. I saw her butt one of her own kids away, only to sniff afterward to figure out who it was.

The twins with Helen's girl in the middle. The quads are almost 4
weeks older but not that much bigger. It's all a matter of womb room!

Even so, the twins aren't very big. Chicken included for size comparison.

This was Helen's first freshening and she has been a good and natural mom. However, we were initially alarmed right after kidding because she kept pawing at her babies. Was she trying to kill them? Turned out she was trying to turn them over to give their bellies a good cleaning. When I held each squalling kid tummy up for her, she washed it thoroughly until she was satisfied and that was that.

Heading out for today's new adventures

Daphne's twins (foreground) are 3 days old here. The quads are 4 weeks.

It took a couple of days before I could get photos of both Helen's and Daphne's kids together because Daphne is a pretty strict mom. For example, her kids are not allowed to nurse while she's eating her morning and evening ration from her feeder. She is also very firm about keeping the others away from her girls.

Dan moved the steps from our torn down coal barn for the kids to play on.

She is gentle, however, even in butting the others away. If her younguns get too far ahead of her, she calls them back.

Helen's girl leaping onto the stump under Daphne's watchful eye.

Then there's Bunny. She's not quite a year old and never been pregnant. Yet.

Bunny and 3 of Helen's quads

She still has quite a bit of kid-play in her. She was on the bottom of the pecking order for so long that I think she's enjoying having underlings around. Thankfully she isn't rough with the little ones, but she always wins the goat games.

All kid play is under Daphne's supervision.

I'd be interested in your observations about goat mothering as well. Those of you who keep goats, what have you experienced? Do your goats have good mothering instincts? Any fun stories to share?

On Goat Mothering © April 2015 by
Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

April 7, 2015

My First Beehive

Starting our first hive of honeybees was on our goal list this year. This venture was not totally foreign to me, because I had a hive of bees a number of years ago. Sadly I had to move before I ever harvested any honey, so my experience was extremely limited. As I began to do my honeybee homework this time, I started to run across the term "natural beekeeping." How could I not help but follow up on that?

I showed you the kit in my "Around The
Homestead" post. Here it is assembled.

Long story short, I learned about top bar hives, starting with an article entitled "Less Invasive Beekeeping", and then "The Best Bee Hive." Perhaps it was because the Warré hive is the most hands-off and least invasive, perhaps because it is most economical, or because it has a smaller footprint than the common Langstroth hive. Or maybe it was because I liked the pagoda-like look of it. Anyway, I chose to get a Warré hive.

This particular design was developed by Frenchman Abbé Emile Warré in the first half of the 20th century. In a nutshell, Warré thought that beekeeping should accommodate the bees, rather than requiring the bees accommodate the beekeeper. His hive design was based on observations made during his several decades of keeping them. He called it the Peoples' Hive, because he thought beekeeping ought to be economical enough for everyone to do. This meant a hive design that was simple and affordable to build, even for the average person. All of this appealed to me tremendously, so I'm going to give it a go!

Economical is somewhat relative, of course. The plans are included in Warré's book Beekeeping For All and could be made out of scrap lumber. The English translation of the book is available as a free download here (at the bottom of the left-hand sidebar), or as a not free paperback here. For those not inclined to build, beautifully finished complete hives are available for a lot of $$. For my first hive I chose the middle path and bought a kit.

Here are some close-ups of the parts of this hive.

Pre-assembled bottom boards included solid or screened. Because of our
hot summers I chose the screened bottom to allow for better ventilation.

A piece of plywood cut to fit was included, although no explanation was
given as to it's purpose (it isn't included in the original plans). Perhaps to
close off the bottom during winter or do Varroa mite counts? I don't know.

At 300 mm by 300 mm, the hive bodies are said to mimic the inside
of a hollow tree. The "grooves" in the side are where the top bars go.

They are called top bar hives because there are no frames & no foundation
for the comb, only bars set in place at the top of each box. Melted bees
wax is applied to the ridge of each bar & the bees draw their own comb.

A square of fiberglass window screening goes on top of the top box. This
didn't come with my kit nor is it mentioned in Warré's book, but I picked
up the idea from watching a couple of videos. It prevents the bees from
propolizing (bee gluing) and and chewing through the quilt (below).

The quilt box is next and is for insulation.
I'll show you details about it soon.

The roof section fits over and conceals the quilt box. It has two vents.

Eaves vent

Ridge vent

The stackable hive boxes are all the same size. Two are usually used for overwintering. In the spring, when things start blooming, more boxes are added to the bottom of the hive (called nadiring) rather than the top (supering). This accommodates the natural downward movement of the queen as the bees build more comb and she lays brood. As the brood hatches and leaves empty comb behind, the bees fill it with honey. All (or most) of the honey is in the top boxes, which is where harvest takes place, simply removing the top hive box. Theoretically, it is possible to prevent swarming because the bees never run out of room(!) No queen excluder is required because the beekeeper knows that the queen and brood are in the bottom boxes. Bee escapes (one way bee doors) can be added prior to harvest if desired, although opening the hive frequently is discouraged. The idea is to retain the warmth and scent of the hive (called Nestduftwarmebindung). On occasion, when the nectar flow is heavy, boxes may be supered by adding them to the top.

So say the books! It's all head knowledge to me at this point, but stay tuned as I drag you through my learning process in upcoming posts. No guarantees of success, but I'm gonna give it my best try.

Continued - Getting Ready For My Bees