Teaching live classes online, hive tops, rain, more re-purposing

My coworker did a great job teaching the online live class yesterday morning. Since we have set these classes up for four hours, it is less of a strain that it would have been for a longer eight-hour classes. But I am sure those longer classes are on the docket for later this year. We had only four attendees, but it worked out for the best since this we our first attempt at this style of presentation. The program we used did well. Everyone was able to stay connected. Everyone was able to participate in the class. All the required videos and documents were available to the participants when needed. If I had been at home, I would not have been able to participate due to internet issues, but all the participants had good enough connections at each of their locations to stay logged into the class for the duration. All in all, it went well. Mostly because we had a second person acting as administrator for the class to keep up with all the sign in issues and monitor the chat through the class so the instructor could focus on the presentation. All the participants did well on the exam – which was also offered online. It will be my turn next week to be the instructor. If this is our future, it could be fun. We got a lot of very encouraging feedback from the participants. Hopefully, that is a precursor of what is to come.

Yesterday evening, I worked on building tops for the two hives I am piecing together. I have other pieces to assemble or construct over the next few weeks but, I need the tops to be able to rehouse the swarm we have caught. I did not quite get done last night. Fitting the flashing to the top to seal it is the difficult part if I want it to look good. I should be able to do all the final work Thursday evening and have the hive ready for a Saturday swap. We are still not sure it will work, but at least I will have everything I need in place to give it a good try. I have not decided if I will make the swap at night or during the daylight, but I will definitely get the swarm trap out of the tree in the daylight. Probably late evening when all the bees are home for the night. The next swarm trap I hang will be placed so that it is easier to retrieve. But I have to admit that where this one was placed – regardless of the difficulty – it worked quickly. Last weekend, I built a stand for the swarm trap so that it could be more easily set and retrieved, but I have not hung that stand yet. It may go up on the Cantrell’s property. Getting it from that area would satisfy the “two feet or two miles” mantra concerning swarm relocation.

Yesterday we received a bee suit I ordered more than a week ago. It is a jacket and hood only. I will use it and Mama will use the full suit when she gets the chance to work with me on the hives. Sometimes it is nice to have two working together on some of the hive operations. Mostly, I can do the routine things by myself, but, now and then, an extra pair of hands is a huge help. Besides, Mama wants to see the hives up close. Now, we can do that – within Mama’s physical limitations. I will probably wear the full suit for the swap this weekend. I have no idea how those bees will react, and I do not have a smoker to use to calm them down. I do not know if these are “friend bees”. One way or the other, when I start, I will have to see it the entire process through.

We had a storm blow through last night that was all wind and fury without much rain. From the winds, the lightening and the thunder, you would have thought we were going to get deluged with rain. Alas, that was not the case. We ended up with 1/4” of rain. We will take it, but according to the forecast, it was our best chance of rain for the rest of this week and into next week. So, Mama and I will have to start our normal watering routine sooner than expected. Hoses are in place for that very purpose. When the plants and trees are producing fruit, it becomes a labor of love rather than a chore…mostly.

Mama took Kobe to the vet this morning to get her fixed. No more puppies out of Victoria’s two inside dogs. Now the birthing center will be permanently repurposed to a chicken nursery. Hopefully, we can get it moved out of the yard and closer to the coop building this summer.

That will facilitate caring for both the yard and whatever chicks are in the building. Which seems to be very often.