New Bees!

Another Spring, another year to replace bees lost to winter weather and the mites. This year eleven year-old Nadia helped empty packages of bees into the hives. Each package contains about 3 lbs. of bees and an isolated queen. They'll quickly take up residence in their new hive and within 2-3 days will free the queen from her candy-plugged cage. She will then begin laying up to 1,800 eggs per day as the hive prepares itself for the spring bloom.

Real Food, Big Dog!

A couple of things happened this week in the lives of the pups--good weather meant they could get a 'feel' for the outdoors, and they got their first taste of 'big dog' food!

Puppies are always tentative when they're first exploring new surfaces, textures, and smells, and we were not disappointed. They literally quiver and shake when first brought outdoors, uncertain of their new surroundings (and cooler temps, too!). The lovely 65 degree weather was a perfect excuse to bring them outside and since they were now four weeks old they got to try some moistened kibble for the very first time. Interestingly, they weren't as voracious as we've seen with previous litters. We think it may be the food we're feeding the older dogs: a lamb and rice Canidae vs. the chicken, turkey, fish, and lamb Canidae we've fed them in the past (We switched about a year ago because one of our dogs was having issues with her diet). We may switch the pups to the All Stages Canidae and see how they like it.

As you can see from the second picture, they're becoming a handfull! Our 2-year old Bryce looks on in the background.

Pile of Pups

We like to remove the pups when we replace the rug in their whelping box home each day. If you recall the photos from three weeks ago you'll see that where there once was ample space between pups is now all pups all the time! We mark the pups by the tail to individually identify them.

Three Weeks of Fun

The pups continue to grow and grow. As the photo shows, mealtime is now a sit down affair for Mom, and a free-for-all for the kids. Somehow they all find what they're looking for!

Bromley continues to be Supermom, a role she's enjoyed for four years (whether the pups are hers or not!). She faithfully feeds the pups 'round the clock but since the first week now sleeps outside the whelping box. She's not shy about reminding us to feed her--when we let the other three adult dogs out to do their business Bromley will elect to stay behind, waiting for us to head back to the kitchen and the feed bowl. The calories she consumes are immense! She's regained a bit of weight since the kids were born but most of the excess calories continue to flow through to the pups.

Their eyes opened and they began walking right at two weeks. Now they've discovered their voices. Yips and growls are new explorations and this is a vocal bunch! We'll post more photos in the days ahead.

One Week, Twice the Fun

Now a week old, Bromley's pups continue their exponential (it seems!) growth. Each has doubled in size and weight, from about 16 oz. at birth to rotund, squirmy puppy tipping the scales at two pounds or more. They undergo interesting changes even in the first week of life. Little pink footpads and muzzles have turned black, and little ear flaps extend to twice their original size. Mother's rich milk is constantly in demand leading to plump and blind 'slugs' whose noses work like magnets to find their next meal. Of course, this means Bromley's fuel tank is always in need of filling: her mealtime has gone from a normal twice daily feeding to five or more meals per day. We even supplement those with added ingredients like fresh eggs and cottage cheese. The eggs, straight from our chickens, can be added raw; even the crushed shells can be consumed (an excellent source of calcium). Even with all the extra calories it will be weeks before Bromley's weight returns to previous levels.

Voracious appetites by mother and puppies is normal. Sadly, one of the puppies (Peony) had an apparent birth defect and could not adequately take up food, even when we tried to feed by hand, and it passed away on Day 2. Such occurrences are not uncommon and help explain why dogs have rather large litters. Fortunately, the remaining three girls and three boys appear to be healthy and are developing normally.

We'll post some new pictures in the days ahead; around Day 14 the puppies eyes will open and they'll take their first steps. In the meantime, pictures of 'slugs' just aren't that exciting!

It's Spring! Puppies!!!

Bromley began giving birth a little after noon today. So far the deliveries have been without incident. Three girls and two boys with at least a couple more to come. Our theme for this litter is "Spring Flowers". Thus, we have the first born, Crocus (F), followed by Dogwood (M), Daffodil (F), Dandelion (M), and Peony (F). Unfortunately, a sixth puppy was stillborn--not unexpected in large litters but still somewhat saddening... we'll post again when Bromley's deliveries are complete.

This is an all yellow litter but as you can see the yellow spectrum can range from fairly white to a foxy red. The dark reddish color of Dogwood is partly due to wet hair from his recent birthing. All are weighing in at a healthy one pound. In the past, we've seen puppies range in weight from 5 - 18 oz, with 14-15 oz the average weight of a lab pup.

It's Gotta Be Today (Bromley's litter)

Yesterday, March 10th, was Bromley's earliest possible due date (62 day gestation) and though she is HUGE she made it through the night without any signs of giving birth. She was reluctant to eat her entire meals yesterday, with her stomach crowded out by all those pups. Today is likely to be the day: she did not want to eat at all, initially, and then only after her sibling rivals were sniffing around her dish did she grudgingly finish her small serving of kibble.

As dogs approach the birth phase they will get into a nesting mode and will try and find places to dig a den. This morning when we took her outside to do her business Bromley found a suitable den site and began digging under two large boulders, clearing out leaves and dirt. Once, one of our other dogs that was expecting, Sedona, returned repeatedly to a place under a bush next to our house over the course of a week. Before she was done, Sedona had excavated a hole two feet deep! Fortunately, we got Bromley to stop after a minute or two of digging in the dirt. Now back inside, she's taken to digging through a pile of blankets. At least it keeps her mind focused!

Our experience with birthing puppies over seven years has been that most litters are born at night. We have had two that occurred during daylight hours. My guess is she'll start giving birth sometime later this afternoon.

Puppies expected mid March 2010

So six weeks have gone by since we had hoped to have puppies from our Sedona and we're happy to report that Bromley is expecting pups! She's due March 10th. The irony is that she's had a litter on that date before, and one of our cats was born on that day... someone else sharing that birthday is Kyra, our oldest daughter. What are the odds?!

Bromley is Sedona's mother and her pups will be an all yellow litter. Legacy's Willcare's Nicholas is the sire and he's produced nice pups with our labs in the past so we have high hopes and expectations that this litter will be brimming with cute, cuddly, and magnificent pups.

Where art' thou, puppy?

Our much anticipated litter from Sedona did not materialize as we'd hoped and expected. Nor, as that sentence may suggest, do puppies appear magically. As with people, occasionally dogs can exhibit signs of fertility without actual fruition (no pun intended...). In Sedona's case we witnessed a false pregnancy and thus, no puppies this time around. Fortunately, we have a backup plan.

Sedona's mother, Bromley, who just LOVES puppies gamely stepped to the plate, raised her paw, and will be the surrogate mother, or in reality, the real mother, of our next litter. We expect her puppies around March 10th. This, too, will be an all yellow litter. Legacy Willcare's Nicholas is the sire. He's fathered litters for us before and produces outstanding kiddoe's. We have our fingers and paws crossed.

Puppies expected late January 2010

Our yellow lab, Sedona, is expecting puppies to be born Jan. 25, 2010, give or take a few days. This will be her second litter (the first was in Feb. 2008). We anticipate another beautiful litter!

Bee Bedtime

The winds of autumn blow and the cold of winter is approaching and the bees will soon settle in for a long winter. It was a pretty good season for the bees: lots of moisture, moderate temperatures, and moderate mite pressure. Moving indoors for the winter, the bees remain in their hives during the cold and will venture out briefly for 'cleansing' flights whenever the thermometer breaks 50 degrees F.

The picture, above, is of a swarm that took up residence in one of my abandoned hives. The apiary where these gals settled in had been a dismal failure and I'd left the boxes for an eventual cleanup. The property owner saw me in the grocery store and alerted me to our new residents which I promptly rehoused and fed sugar syrup in the hopes of helping them survive the winter. They had built up this comb on the inside cover in the void of the hive which had half the space occupied by honeycomb frames. There was no honey to be found so they were grateful for my contribution. If the weather permits we will give them a couple more frames of filled honeycomb to complement the converted sugar syrup that they're processing belatedly into honey stores.

The population size is relatively small so it is uncertain how well they will do during the cold season. A late season swarm rarely survives the winter but with our help we hope to improve the odds.

New Litter Coming Spring 2010

Our usual winter litter has been delayed as we wait for our Sedona's heat cycle. We have a list of anxious puppy-owners-to-be. Contact us if you'd like to learn more about our puppies.

Honey Season Coming to Close

Our bees came through in fine fashion this year, producing a record crop of the most outstanding tasting honey in Connecticut! We had three harvests, in mid July, early August, and mid September, each with distinctive colors and taste

Our mid-July harvest was our earliest ever, coming two weeks sooner than usual and was the most remarkable honey we've ever had: very pale yellow in color, it was made up of significant amounts of locust honey which bloomed profusely in the first week of June.

Three weeks later, wild raspberry nectar provided a beautiful addition of light-to ruby red honey that when blended with the earlier honey produced a rich but mild honey with a hint of berry flavor.

Finally, in September, the bees had finished ripening a deep red amber honey consisting of Japanese knotweed, jewelweed, and tulip poplar nectars--our darkest honey yet--that was more complex and richly flavored than the two harvests from earlier in the summer.

TASTE makes our honey memorable and preferred by non-honey lovers three-to-one!

Lavender Blooms = Luscious Honey!

Years ago, Stasia and Glenn traveled through Provence in mid-July at the height of the lavender harvest. We brought back a few seeds and started our own 'field', a few plants to remind us of that magical week in France. Since then, we've planted more and our own harvest, on an infinitely smaller scale, is under way.

Our lavender is in full bloom now, sending up tall spikes of fragrant flowering buds. The honeybees and bumble bees are hard at work moving up and down the rows lighting on a flower for a brief moment before moving to the next spike. The soft buzzing drifting through the mounds is something to behold.

We use our lavender in our infused lavender honey, combining the dried buds with our wildflower honey to make a uniquely flavored treat. This year we're also selling fresh bunches of lavender at our farm market venues. And, we make several wonderfully rich handcrafted soaps and a skin cream, each with the relaxing scent of pure lavender. Together, they spell July in Connecticut!

Finest Honey Yet

Okay, as the beekeeper we may be a bit partial but this year's honey crop is the best tasting honey our bees have ever made (well at least for the last 10 years)! Never seen our honey as 'white' (or light) as this year's crop. While we've had a pretty extensive and lengthy clover bloom it seems like a significant amount of honey came from the incredible bloom from the black locust, a tree that exploded with creamy white/yellow flowers for about 10 days in early June. Along every major road we traveled the normally low key locust flaunted its dense pea-flower clusters, and really popped out from the deciduous crowd it hangs with.

Some reports suggest up to a third of one's honey crop in Connecticut can come from the locust tree. The book, ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture, by A. I. Root, describes locust honey as "water white with a mild flavor and good body... bringing premium prices due to its high quality." This was the best bloom of locust in at least the past ten years and is dependent upon good weather; rain or cold weather can end the bloom prematurely. Amazing, that with all the rain we've experienced this spring and early summer, our window of good weather came just as the locust came into flower.

Some of the hives had frames of wild raspberry honey too! Pinkish in color and tasting like raspberry syrup its taste can still be detected when blended with the other frames of white honey collected thus far. We look forward to bringing in more tasty honey in the weeks ahead as the bees finish the ripening of this year's honey.

Dogs Gone!

What a fun litter this one was! With only four puppies we saw a very different dynamic: less sibling rivalry and more 'brotherly love'. Usually in the last weeks we have them the noise level from the whelping box grows as the puppies begin to explore the social framework of being canines. There's a lot of ear biting, tug-o-war, and chase play as puppies learn to live and play with others. In this smaller litter, there was less competition and a calmer atmosphere.

Our last two pups to go, Mo and Eenie, both males, found themselves going home with loving families. Eenie moved west... to Glenmont, NY (near Albany) and Mo went East... all 15 miles to Waterford, CT. Alas, shortly after they left we had several calls from others looking to take Mo or Eenie home. As usual, we plan to have a late Fall litter and the story will go on...

Best Honey Crop Ever!

We're looking forward to our best and biggest honey crop ever! It's been a strange season weatherwise but it's been quite agreeable to the bees. Cooler and wetter than normal but not so wet as to wash out all nectar, our bees have built up quickly and are currently bringing in clover and wild raspberry, making for a very clear white and then pink honey in the combs. We expect to make our first harvest very soon--about three-four weeks earlier than normal. Soon available at our farm markets!!!

Eight Weeks and Homeward Bound...

How fast pups grow! Now at 10 lbs., our pups have achieved the ripe old age of eight weeks... and 'Minie' was the first to go to her new home. She moved just up the road here in Essex where she'll enjoy a loving family.

Our remaining three, from left to right, Mo (M), Meenie (F), and Eenie (M) are having fun without their sister--heck, same helping of food three times a day but now split among three. Yippie! Meenie will be leaving us today for her new home in Chester, CT. A very excited family will be enjoying their FIRST DOG ever! Always a special moment for us, placing a pup with a family who has never experienced the joy of a lab licking your face, holding the ball waiting to play retrieve, or nuzzling against your outstretched hand while you sit watching TV.

Honey Crop Looks Promising

This year's honey crop is shaping up to be our best in years!! Weather has been cooler than normal but we've had good rainfall at appropriate times to keep good ground moisture and promote consistent flowering. The cool weather in early May truncated the dandelion bloom, or so it seemed, but the flowering of willows, maples, and oaks brought consistent sources of pollen and nectar to the bees during the critical early buildup of bee brood in the hives.

Right now we're seeing a healthy bloom of clover and an amazing abundance of black locust flowers! This tree can be a significant contributor to honey production and this looks like one of those years. In contrast, last year's locust nectar was washed out by eight consecutive days of rain and really set back honey production for the season.

Japanese honeysuckle is just starting and wild raspberries will not be far behind. This is the peak of flowering and we're hoping the bees enjoy nature's bounty as much as us!

Puppies @ 5 Weeks!

Hard to believe the pups have reached the ripe old age of five weeks! They're now eating solid food (much to mother Mingus' relief--she's not the doting mom the way our Bromley and Sedona can be) and growing by leaps and bounds. This photo is of "Meenie" at 4 weeks.