I attended the city council meeting in support of the local petition for urban chickens. Approx. 20 people spoke during open mic. Although they videoed it in entirety, the video isn't available to the public. Food Not Lawns and Food Not Bombs did a great job of preemptively warding off objections. Each person came with a prepared statement in response to potential complaints about noise, smell, diseases, etc... In two weeks we'll be back with the petition that in a matter of days gathered over 1500 signatures. I hope this happens. I'd love to start my retirement with a coop and several chickens.
One of the people I met that night let the group know she had a mountain of mulch available to any gardeners who were willing to come get it. So, I packed my little car full of buckets and away I went. The area around my hives is in sore need of new mulch and I certainly don't mind a bit of extra work to get that mulch for free. So, thanks to Timarra for her generosity.
I cleaned out the top bar, and just as I suspected the bees died from starvation. It was heartbreaking to scoop out piles of dead bees. Apparently this queen was not very good at managing her brood numbers. My top bar experiment is about done. I'm sure it's possible to keep bees in top bars in this temperature zone, but they must be heavily supplementing their food supply throughout the entire season. I'm going to buy another conventional hive and start over next year, unless I happen to luck out and capture a swarm.
Tonight I'm meeting up with Harry to share some laughs and hugs and a few beers.
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