Pauline, Hilda, and Louise (with moral support from Lena and Expresso) won the blue ribbon for their Large Brown Eggs at the regional agricultural fair. They are so proud and so am I. Here they are gazing at their ribbon (OK, and eating the scratch grain I put on the ground under the ribbon). Lena's eggs could not be entered because they do not qualify as "Large."
We are all embarrassed for the bees, whose last minute honey entry earned only a third place white ribbon. The hens aren't even being subtle as they taunt the worker bees and flaunt their blue ribbon. I pulled a very small amount of late honey off the bee hives this week (it is not yet extracted, so I do not know how much for sure), and found that Dolly's hive had completely abandoned their bottom brood box. I removed the empty box, leaving them with just one box of brood and one of food (honey and pollen) as we go into the winter. I may need to feed this group to help them survive. Here you see their new, smaller winter hive. There were hive beetles in this hive, so I am hoping that the smaller area will be easier for the bees to patrol. While moving the bees to a new box, I saw the queen! She looked lovely.
