Kicking into high gear...

... wooooo-wee, High Spring is a-comin'. 

Our Italian honeybees ship to us on Monday, and my order for the hive extender, pre-formed sugar block, smoker fuel and pollen patties arrived today.  We are planning to go in an a bulk "animal grade" sugar order with some friends for future bee feedings, but this week I just don't have time to mess around with trying to make a sugar block the right size for atop the frames of the hive deep body.  4 ducklings (a male and female pair of Runner ducks and a pair of Khaki Campbells!) also ship to us on Monday.  The little chickies are feathering out and needing to be divided into two brooder boxes to get a bit more room.  The black and red raspberries are in their freshly dug and enriched bed.  The ground was too wet these past two days to break sod on the asparagus bed, and I'm afraid to open up the nursery packaging to see what those roots are looking like.  I'm just crossing my fingers that they keep until I can get them in the ground.

We are planning to have our house-warming/chicken coop moving party on Saturday, but they're wanting thunderstorms all weekend.  We may need to reschedule, given that the inside of the house is not prepared to hold a large group of people yet, and moving a heavy coop on rollers in the mud just doesn't sound like fun.  I surely do hope that the weathermen are wrong this time around, because herding the chickens up and down the hill each morning and evening is going to get old really soon.

Our little barred rock hen, Mary, is eggbound.  She wasn't acting herself last evening, and hadn't laid an egg today... and upon inspection and with some gentle palpation, I found she had a sort of boggy mass in her bottom, some egg yolk/white was coming out of her vent in sporadic bursts.  We took her inside and soaked her in a warm bath (which she seemed to like), dried her off, encouraged her to eat some Fig Newtons, and returned her to the coop to be with her sisters.  I left feeling pretty sure that she'd be unlikely to make it through the night, but when I came home from work this morning she was scratching in the grass with her sisters and acting completely normal.  There was evidence that she'd passed some more eggy goo, but I don't know if she'll work it all out or not.  I'm rooting for her, but there's nothing more we can do but watch and wait to see what happens.  I hope she makes it.

Last night was my final night at my job at the Tiny Community Hospital, and I have off for a good week and a half before starting my job at the Giant Teaching Hospital.  I'm going to sleep in as late as my body wants me to today, no alarm clock for me!!  And then TOMORROW I'll get to work on the rest of the projects that need to be completed!