Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Castration Day - I Was This Close...No Not for That!!!!





Only 100 Million things to do today and I almost got them all done. I debated letting the flock out this morning because I had a 10:30 appointment for the Vet to stop by and castrate the 14 little boy lambs. I figured it might be easier to keep em in rather than attempting to round em all back up again when he got here. Trouble is attempting to feed the 40 some-odd grain crazed monsters without putting the grain in the feeders while they are trapped on the other side of a gate is perilous at best.

So I decided to feed em outside. Then the Vet showed up early.

I am amazed at the size some of these boys have grown into in less than a month. We had some hefty lambs this year. It was almost as bad as shearing a couple of them they have gotten so heavy.

Having to hold the little guys while the Vet went to work was painful, for me and the poor boy lambs. We got it done in record time though and the barn yard was awful quiet and noticeably depopulated all day as the little guys recovered.

Then I started really busting butt on stage 2 of the fencing project. I finished up the electric side of it yesterday, tested it out (with a tester I tried to make my son pee on it but he wouldn't) and was ready to finish this stage today. I pounded posts, set the temporary portion with hog panels and got everything ready to go to put in the final two wooden posts and stretch the last 70 feet of woven wire when Saybrook colony decided to kick out a swarm.

Just great. Man I feel like the worst bee keeper every this year. I would have swore that hive was no where near swarming. I guess I should have looked at every frame bottom when I opened it up.

So I had to drop everything and switch gears to swarm capture mode. This makes the fifth swarm I have captured this year so far and swarm season is really just getting started. I am now so low on replacement equipment I am going to have to work all night on the four new bottom boards I got half finished out in the shop. To top it off I need to start mowing once again as well.

It's a good thing I didn't plant much of a garden this year. OH BTW the Buckwheat is coming in strong now although it has some catching up to do to beat out the Fescue and other weeds. The Pumpkins are coming up nicely and my beans have sprouted as well.

I guess the last part of stage two will have to wait for tomorrow. I think it's time to wash the lamb blood, bee stuff and other assorted things off and then start to work on those bottom boards.

There should be a rule that days from Mid April to the end of June have 26 hours a daylight I think.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!!


12 comments:

  1. Sounds like you had your hands full, well maybe it was the vet, but anyway you were busy. I guess the day may come when you guys do it all yourself and now is the time to learn all you can and experiment as that will be a luxury.

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    1. Sf - Castration is something I need to learn to do myself but haven't yet. We used to band them but that isn't really any easier and the Vet charges very little for this process. I think in the old days they actually just butchered the males before castration was really needed.

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  2. I'm the same at the moment, when people ring me I ask them to phone back when it's dark! As for castration we use little rubber bands as soon as they're born here and on their tails as well. Vets are very expensive over here!

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    1. Kev - We used to band the boys and give our own booster when we put the band on but some of the smaller endowed little rams didn't always get completely done plus the bands actually take longer to do their job and add more stress overall. The real factor was though that the vet is really reasonable on charging for this type of visit so we just decided to go with a visit over banding. Now if their rates change we may go back to banding.

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  3. We band our lambs also. Not so traumatic for them and me.

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    1. Tewshooz - We used to band as well but overall it appears to be even more stressful than cutting. The bands take so long to do their job and are not as fool proof as actually getting a hold of the problem so to speak. There are advantages to each alternative though and we may go back to banding as the circumstances change that's for sure.

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  4. Out of curiousity, do you keep statistics on how many of hives swarm a year? Is there some objective data you could use to at least suggest when this is a greater likelihood?

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    1. TB - I keep track of when or where I capture a swarm and what hive it came out of if I see it happening. I have over the years determined that swarming is more likely to occur after a period of rain followed by a quick hot/warm up. The problem with swarming is even if you go in and find swarm cells and destroy them the bees just build em again. I think like any need to procreate it very hard to keep em from doing it unless you go and look almost every day.

      Swarming has some benefits as well so I don't stress about it as much as some bee keepers do.

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  5. PP,

    Good to hear all your baby lambs were taken care of by the Vet.
    Were you able to capture the wondering swarm? With all the rain you had, is this what caused them to take off?

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    1. Sandy - Swarms seem to increase with rain I assume because it increases the amount of nectar they bring in and the girls run out of room. I have seen hives that will swarm even with plenty of room to expand so I think alot of it is simply a need they have. Guess a collective biological clock type of thing.

      I captured the swarm and hived it up. It seems to be happy and stayed where I put it too.

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  6. Boy you sure are busy! Hope you get more bee equipment finished before the next swarm or that you can divide before they swarm at all.

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    1. DFW - Ya I need to get to building. I typically don't mess with man made splits. I usually capture enough swarms to not need to and at least with those you are almost 100% sure to have a viable queen.

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