Out with the Old ... In with the New

Always something new at my house - this is a duck that has magically appeared in the front yard.  I saw him Monday and he seems right at home now.  I'm giving him water, bread and some corn.  Well, I can't leave him out there with nothing to eat - good heavens!  I thought he was hanging around a nest but the males leave the females to do all the work with that (go figure).  So I guess he just can't fly.  Can't see anything wrong with him and he's friendly enough. 
But unfortunately Dumpling (my white and black hen) has gone to chicken heaven.  She just died a natural death the best I can tell.  But she lived a good life (as all the chickens at my house do) but sad.  Now I'm down to four chickens and the duck.  Don't know what I'll do about that.
To be continued . . . . .

Extra Insurance

Checked the bees today.  Added another super to Nuc #2.  It was leaning a little and we're supposed to have thunderstorms rolling in tonight so I thought I might shore it up a little.  Never hurts to be prepared or maybe over prepared. 

Added super to Hive #4 and did nothing to Nuc #1.  The bees are busy bringing in pollen and lots of bees in each hive.

The Color Yellow

You all know what I'm talking about - POLLEN!  Everything (and I mean everything) has a coat of yellow pollen on it. 

Mr. Ellis came on Good Friday and we opened the hives.  Everything looked - no hive beetles yet, lots of bees and big drones. 
Hive #4 - reversed the deeps and put super on top.
Nuc #1 - no change, still feeding, least amount of bees in hive.
Nuc #2 - added super in between top two supers.  So many bees in this hive!

I've planted tomato and pepper plants.  Planted potatoes (Yukon Gold) and onion sets last week.  A little late on potatoes but we'll see how they do.  The strawberry plants are all over the place.

Hydrangeas

Well this is a sad state of affairs - my hydrangeas were hit really hard with the last cold spell.  We had temps that were below freezing - not much and only one night - but enough to freeze any buds that had new growth. 
The hydrangeas are putting out new growth at the bottom of the plant now so I know they're not dead but it's a pitiful mess.  Needless to say, I'll have no blooms this year.  No pruning until next year. 
My oakleaf hydrangeas were not affected by the freeze which seems strange since they had new growth too. 
Now if you look closely at the photo on the right side you can see the Little Kitty sitting inside the lattice.  She's nice and warm and snug under there.
Warm (really warm) temps today.  Thank goodness!