Critters

It is May, and Spring is in full swing here in Missouri, with critters of all shapes and sizes emerging into the sunlight after toughing it out through the cooler months. It is also when our dogs, Islay (“Eye-La”) and her brother Jura, go swimming on a more regular basis once again. This is quite possibly their most favorite activity in the world. They are Labradors after all and are well equipped for water with their waterproof fur, webbed toes, and otter tails. A few days ago, while swimming at our pond, Islay noticed a family of geese lingering nearby and immediately had to investigate, chasing them into the water by doing so. She would never mean them any harm but probably saw them as another creature she could make friends with and possibly have a playdate with, but she was definitely under the mistaken assumption that they would want to play with her. As she gave chase, cutting through the water like a submarine, it became evident very quickly that, despite all of her aquatic prowess, she was no match for said family. As she closed in on the birds, the goose led her goslings away from our excited pooch, while the gander peeled off in the opposite direction, flapping his wings and honking at the top of his lungs for all he was worth, proving to be a champion at distraction. Of course, all of this was a ploy on his part in order to lead Islay away from his lady love and their babies. I can almost imagine him rolling his eyes and releasing a great sigh of boredom as he was going through this exercise. Needless to say, our Islay was no match for him, and to her great disappointment, she failed to make a new friend that day. She sure did get her exercise though. Luckily, our young nephew was with us and managed to capture a small part of this exchange on video.

In recent weeks, while taking the dogs for walks, or working around the farm, I have been fortunate enough to grab some photos of a few other critters that were doing their best to stay still and hidden from me: a couple of good-sized Prairie Kingsnakes, some Snapping and Box turtles, and a variety of frogs and toads, just to name a few. Most notably was our very first sighting of a honeybee swarm on a fencepost at the farm. Bees are at their most docile at this time and doing their very best to find a new home for the queen by sending out scout bees. The Queen is somewhere in the middle of that giant bee ball (pictured in the title photo above). It can be startling when first spotting these critters, but after the initial surprise, I am always amazed at their beauty and design, and how they perfectly blend into their environment. It also reminds me that every creature, despite how they may look to us humans, has its place in a healthy, natural ecosystem.

Lastly, I would be remiss if I did not mention our honeybee update while doing a blog on critters. Recently, we discovered that we had a Queen-less hive which required us to buy a new, mated queen from a local beekeeper who raises them. We knew the hive was Queen-less as there was no sign of any brood (eggs), and there was no sign of the Queen herself for several weeks. This can happen if the Queen either dies or leaves the hive for some unknown reason. Therefore, it was important for us to reinstate a Queen in that hive or it would eventually die out. There is a process to this, however, as it has to be a slow introduction. The bees need to get used to her, and she them. This is done by putting the Queen and a few attendant bees in a queen cage and placing it in the hive between two frames (photos 1 and 2). One end of the cage is plugged with candy fondant. Over the course of three days to a week, the bees will eat through the candy eventually freeing her into the new hive. Without this slow introduction, the bees could reject her and possibly even kill her. Even after a slow introduction, this could still happen, but happily, in this case, our new Queen was accepted, and the hive is once again thriving.

Interestingly, while we were going through this process, we actually found a random Queen wandering around on some discarded burr comb. What a surprise that was! We were able to put her in our queen cage and transfer her to a new empty hive that we had in storage. You can see her going down into the new hive in photo 4 (look for her long orange body). We then took several frames of brood and some additional frames of capped honey and put these in the new hive with her to give her something to work with. After a couple of weeks, we checked and found that the brood had hatched, the hive population had increased, and our new “found” Queen was doing very well. It is always very satisfying to see positive results when working with these truly remarkable and fascinating creatures, and what an unexpected surprise for us that suddenly we find ourselves with an additional hive. Sweet, right?!

Until next time . . .

K.