Since we only had one hive left of our hives that we wintered, it was time to add more bees to our apiary. We like to help the environment where can and we love HONEY! It is great for our allergies and quite a few of us have them. Now where to get the bees from? That is a good question. We have traveled up towards Plattsburgh  for bees and all the way near Binghamton for nucks and packages. 

 There was an ad on Marketplace  that showed someone local had bees for sell. They were running an amazing deal. Buy a package and get an extra queen for $150.00. This allows you to create two hives out of one. What not to like on this deal? Packages are normally $135 to $150 by themselves. Hawkshaw Meadworks offers apiary supplies, honey  bees, honey, and more.

The day has to be nice to introduce the colony to their new hive. They don't like it windy or rainy.  It needs to be warm because they don't like it too cold. Guess when you work as hard as a bee then you have the right to be picky. These images don't capture how massively impressive a colony of bonded bees is.

During this process, Donald learned that his  hive was getting ready to split. Good thing her worked them when he did. He removed some brood from our established hive and put it with the hive with less bees in it. The queen for the one was found in her hive and the other queen was still in the cage but put in the hive to have them help her out. Both will be marked on the next inspection.

 Donald's suit is hot. Maybe they should be made of some white summer material, too. He didn't get in to his existing hive for inspection but did see the activity of the queen there. A extensive inspection will be done later. We really enjoy our little bee friends. The little ones are not scared of them. They call them their friends. It normally goes something like "I see you there, my friend." Appreciating nature and working on our small part to bring up the bee  population. 

Back in November 2018 we purchased a sweet first time freshener, Shailey Hill Jude's Luna and her twin doelings. They all settled into our herd nicely. Luna is a sweetheart. Her girls are absolutely adorable. On top of getting home we couldn't settle on a name for either of the girls. They were referred to as "Wattles 1" and "Wattles 2", just as if you were reading The Cat and the Hat by Dr. Seuss. 

Finally, after owning them for awhile the girls have names that are their own and that fit each of them perfectly. Tiny Hiney Farm is proud to present Red Maple's DL Bianca and Red Maple's DL Darby's Girl. 

Red Maple's DL Bianca is the one that we referred to as "Waddles 1". This is due to the fact that she only has one waddle. Doesn't seem to cause any sort of off balances. (See last photo for her crazy capers.) Bianca as she is known in the barn is from a search for celestial style names to go with her dam's, Luna. She is a gold pinto for her coloring.  This girl is solid. If you see Garnet and Bianca together (which you will in the last picture), they are pretty much the same size. Even though the twins were born in July and Garnet is a little over a year old. Bianca is curious and a nosy little thing. 

Red Maple's DL Darby's Girl, is the little darling we referred to as "Waddles 2". The reason being... You guessed it! She has two waddles. Our family was still trying to come up with a name for her when we got news of their sire crossing the Rainbow Bridge. Has it all SD Darby Saffron *S was an amazing buck and lived a nice long life. He made some very beautiful babies. In honor of this handsome boy, our little girl got her name. In the barn, our family lovingly calls her Girlie. She is dainty and quiet. Girlie is a red/gold pinto with two waddles. 

Adding some more gold into our herd was a great decision. In genetics, gold comes through a lot of the other colors. Future breeding pairs will make some nice looking kids with great milking genetics. Pretty and flashy is nice but is a bonus over top of milk production. 

Bianca is great friends with Garnet. These two get themselves into all kinds of crazy antics. There is never a dull moment in the barn. Both of them know they are not to be in the hay feeder. Both of them look like they are saying to me, "I am not doing anything mom. It wasn't us. Girlie did it!"  That face on Garnet is priceless. 

Coming up with names for goats can be more challenging than you would think. There are many different ways to name them. Classic and easy or fun and themed just to name a couple. We are still working that out for ourselves. If you know of a cute barn name for Bianca, please leave a comment. Also how do you name your goats?