Lewis Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 We had fetching green ones yesterday You mean you're not hardcore farmers with no gloves? That's not very nice for the sheep - and may increase the chance of infection. It's not so bad if they use an anti-bacterial scrub and then obstetric gel - we prefer to use gloves and gel. It makes me laugh, if anyone walked into the barn, the first thing you see is massive tubs on "industrial lube" We have gloves, but most of the time don't have time to run and get them, and its a bit more fiddly to do with gloves on, because if you grab the lamb and pull, your arm slides out of the glove Good luck with the shearing + I hope the weather gets better for you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trish Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 great news Lesley and such a cutey too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helly Welly Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 That black lamb is adorable!! Surely she'll have to be named sooty??!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chook n Boo Mum Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 ....or Sweep ! Sha x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted May 20, 2009 Author Share Posted May 20, 2009 We have a new addition!!!! We've had to go and rescue a swarm of bees! - not what we'd planned to do this evening......... They were clustered on a large stone pot so only at waist height and we managed to get most of them into a box, cover it with a muslin curtain and tie it well - so we thought!! When we were ready to drive off we realised the car was full of bees We still had full beesuits on so we put the hood and veil up and zipped them well.....and drove home Half the journey was behind a police car - good job he didn't look too hard in his rear view mirror They have been tipped into the spare hive and we are hoping that we have the queen - or we may be going back tomorrow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Sounds a bit eventful!! Can't imagine driving in a bee suit Lets hope you do have the queen! I love these stories when people adopt a hive of bees, few sheep, chickens of fate, dogs, cats etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Good for you Lesley - let's hope that you got it all - Bees of Fate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Wow, there's never a dull moment round your place . Congratulations on the Bees of Fate . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted May 20, 2009 Author Share Posted May 20, 2009 Bees of Fate I took a photo of the swarm - but Carl then mislaid the camera They seem to have gone to bed in the hive - I really hope we've got the queen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 How exciting. We had a talk on this sort of thing by th e Beekeeper at Harlow Carr. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chook n Boo Mum Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 How wonderful Lesley, and what a good thing you had an empty hive. Will you now have to buy another so you still have a spare? Sha x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted May 20, 2009 Author Share Posted May 20, 2009 No, we have one more spare........ . We'd got the hive ready as we're hoping to split our main hive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chook n Boo Mum Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 I've just posted on the Bee Chat that I am hoping to get a full, previously loved hive. I know you really don't like them, but I may just order a flat pack hive so I can say I've worked hard for at least part of getting the bees or is that just masochistic ? Sha x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted May 21, 2009 Author Share Posted May 21, 2009 All I can say Sha......is try it......once...... If you have time to put one together then they are really good - we just rarely have the time. Carl had to get up early this morning to put togehter some more brood frames as we hadn't got enough ready and hadn't realised. We will be making all the frames for the third hive this weekend - in case we get another call to rescue a swarm with the warm weekend we are predicted! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mostin Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 Love it , bees of fate . I think I might have freaked out a bit with a car full of bees , but just think of all that lovely honey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin B Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 Well done Lesley. I remember when I went to my hive a few weeks back and some were obviously on my suit and there were a few flying round the car. Not as bad as yours sounds though. Wishing you full supers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helly Welly Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 Blimey, i would have freaked at a car full of bees Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted May 24, 2009 Author Share Posted May 24, 2009 The bees have cleared off Either we didn't capture the queen or they just moved on We were busy yesterday and didn't see anything untoward.......they were fine on Friday and just not there last evening. We have a poorly calf with squits, runny nose and a cough......and the little black lamb is very poorly. We've been observing her for the last few days as she wasn't thriving. We didn't see her feed but she was active and moved pretty quickly when we went near them so we just kept watching. When she started sleeping a lot and not running away we moved them both to the barn. The ewe has plenty of milk and doesn't have mastitis. We gave the lamb some formula milk and kept an eye on them. Yesterday (why is it always weekends and/or Bank Holidays?) she definitely wasn't right. She was trying to poo but couldn't. When she was born she had some difficulty and became quite messy so we'd had to clean her rear end. I was worried that she had some bowel problem so we phoned the Vet. Luckily for us she was working at the practice yesterday morning so we were able to take the lamb and ewe to them instead of having the Vet call out. Th e Vet came out to the trailer and said straight away "you know you wanted a little black lamb? - well I don't think you will have one for long" She tried to take the temperature and immeditaely thought the same as me......she thought the lamb had a blind anus. I said that she had pooed but it wasn't right. The opening seems a litlte small but it is there and the Vet cheered up a little then. Th e lamb has a slight temperature but no other worrying signs so she has had antibiotics and painkillers. She was on hourly obs. but now 2 hourly and has to have antibiotic injections for a couple of day - we've got them here - and we have to milk the ewe and feed the lamb by syringe as she's too week to feed from the ewe herself. We have antibiotics for the calf - that was fun as she is too small to lock into the crush - she went in with no problems but then we had to get a halter on her and Carl had to go in with her to inject her as the sides of the crush are too high to be able to inject a calf - fine for a full grown cow. Today we need to give the calves their BTV and Blackleg vaccine and a drench for.....something??? brain is dead now..! and then move them to another paddock. I've neglected the plants in the polygreenhouse and may have killed all my tomatoes Time to go and start looking at animal bottoms again.............. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted May 24, 2009 Share Posted May 24, 2009 Oh goodness. I'm glad that the vet seems more positive about the lamb, Lesley. Fingers crossed the medications help. Poor little thing. Everything crossed. Good luck with the calf. Hope Carl can manage the injections. Hope the tomatoes survived too! If you've lost them all, let me know and I'll see if we have any spare "Legend" plants for you when we see you. I don't know how many we'll have left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowy Posted May 24, 2009 Share Posted May 24, 2009 Oh no Lesley, what a palaver! I hope the little lamb makes it and you get your calf sorted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Posted May 24, 2009 Share Posted May 24, 2009 Bad things always come in threes, so hopefully the tomatos will be ok! Poor lamb and calf. Hopefully the more attention and handling will be a good thing and get her used to people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mostin Posted May 24, 2009 Share Posted May 24, 2009 What a time your having . Hope things are a bit better for you today and that the lamb and cows are doing a bit better. Fingers crossed for you xxxxxxxxxxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahJo Posted May 24, 2009 Share Posted May 24, 2009 Nooooo - not the little black lamb Hope she and the calf get better - good vibes to you and Carl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted May 24, 2009 Share Posted May 24, 2009 sorry to hear all of that Lesley; give me a shout if you need any help with reluctant calves Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chook n Boo Mum Posted May 24, 2009 Share Posted May 24, 2009 Sounds like it's just as well we didn't have time to pop in this weekend, you poor things, what a rotten weekend. I hope everything works out in the next few days Huge {{{hugs}}} to you all, Sha x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
