Buckhorn Bees, Birds and Chicks!

Honey Bees at Buckhorn!
Honey bees now peacefully share the Buckhorn flowers thanks to our new residents, Stu and Aiyana. Stu set up their bee houses above the Toft house. On sunny days you can see the bees in the garden searching for food.



Last week, Stu mentioned that the bees would be swarming any day. Swarming is the natural reproduction of bee colonies. A new bee colony is formed when the queen bee leaves the colony with about 60% of the original worker bees.



They gather on a branch, only a few meters from the hive while scout bees are sent out to look for a new nest location. When bees swarm, they are usually not aggressive, this is due to their lack of a hive to defend and their interest in finding a new nesting location.



Lucky for bee keepers, this is the time to collect the docile bees and relocate them to a new nest. Dan, a resident WWOOF-ER, noticed the Buckhorn bees swarming just in time for Stu to throw on his bee suit and transfer the new colony (see above).

Springs Birds:
The leaves still haven’t popped out at Buckhorn, but the birds are still very active. Leslie has already spotted many including: Great Blue Herons, Western Tanager, Evening Grosbeaks, Black Headed Grosbeak, Chickadees, House Wrens and Robins.


Above, Scarlet Tanager.


More Chicks!
Almost two years ago, Russell Sargent got us all set up with 18 little chicks. They quickly grew into high producing, happy chickens. With a few hawk and fox attacks, our chicken number went down to 15.

We are excited to welcome our next round of 18 little chicks. They are doubling in size every day, but still living in our house!





Ask us about our honey and fresh eggs next time you visit!

Lauren