Fresh eggs, coming soon

Wait! That's not a chicken, that's my sister! I'm sure she won't be happy about this post, but hey, she's the one who bought that ridiculous ugly hat. She promises never to wear it in public, just here to visit the farm.

 This spring brought a new and improved batch of layers here to the farm. Our old comets were past their prime, but they laid eggs reliably for 2 1/2 years. This time we ordered not only comets, but barred plymouth rocks and ameraucanas as well. They are growing fast! We should have eggs by June-July.

  

I can't believe how fast they grow! We had a new and improved chicken barn built recently, however, our property is a swamp, so until it can be delivered, the chickens are living in our garage. We decided to use our old chicken coop, which was part of our buck barn, to raise broilers and possibly cornish hens this summer as well. I'll post pics of the new barn when it arrives. . .

The comets and the plymouth rocks are easy to spot. They are feathering out nicely. The ameraucanas started out with a variety of tiger stripe patterns. One, seen on the left is very pale yellow, almost white, with the blue-grey legs the other ameraucanas have. So we're not quite sure if we got an 'oops' or if this is a normal color variant. Hopefully it's not a rooster. I'm having nightmares just thinking about it chasing me.

The buzz on Nikiforow Apiary

Just got a new shipment of Italian honeybees! Rog is hard at work splitting our existing hives and starting a few new ones. He will again maintain a clear plexiglass observation hive this summer at the Nature Center at Findley State Park in Wellington, Ohio where he is the park naturalist.

Currently, we have unpasteurized comb honey available for $5 in 8-10 oz containers, bottled honey available in the fall. We also have eucalyptus-scented beeswax lip balm available in limited supply, $2 per tube. 

Is it spring yet??

Thought I'd share this double rainbow we saw from our backyard on Thursday during a 10 minute break in the rain. It only lasted about 5 minutes before the rain picked up again. Unfortunately I couldn't run fast enough to get my share of the gold, the Amish folks on that farm mus be living it up right now!