Whatmate

Be prepared, however, to disregard much of what you know about how most other animals engage in the act because chicken mating is quite different. For the hen's part, she spreads her wings slightly away from her body for balance, and lowers her tail slightly...

The mating flight is so critical for her, in fact, that she's willing to risk her life to do it again if need be. It is a precarious journey, but absolutely necessary for the honeybees' survival.

While you can breed your chickens with their offspring in the short term, diversity is a must in the long term. When flu hits a flock with genetics that are similar year after year, genetics that have not evolved along with the evolution of disease, a...

The chatty sidekicks—the lackeys—are next, happy to keep their chief company and swift to follow her lead. Repeat this several times a day, steadily drawing a little closer each time.

The smell is skunk. We haven't had too many personal run-ins with them, though we have seen one or two traipsing about the yard. Around these parts, it's the striped skunk ( Mephitis mephitis ) that we see.

There, they wait for a virgin queen to join them, where she'll mate with about a dozen different drones. If he is successful, he ensures the continuation of his own genetic material, thus strengthening the species of Apis mellifera .

Never be short a mitten again. When you are done you will have one pair of soft and snug mittens for your little ones that are perfect for keeping their hands warm when you have to go out.

We quickly repurposed our former Cochin coop, moved it into position, and in went the younger birds. He escorted his girls back to the coop several times a day so that they could lay their eggs.

This mysterious and otherworldly experience got us wondering about the praying mantis. Yes! But the bite from a praying mantis is rare, and it usually occurs only when the insect is provoked.

“The Dufour's gland seems to inform workers that queens have mated, while the mandibular gland seems to indicate the queen's mating quality,” Nino says. “The more we know about what affects the queen's health the better chance we will have of creating...

Many of the herbs we use for natural medicine come with a rich history of use as well as their own folklore. Cinquefoil was also said to bring good luck in any one of the five areas of love, money, health, power and wisdom.

Day 1 Around 12:30 a.m., we were awoken by peeping coming from the incubation room, down the hall from our bedroom. Afraid that she might have something contagious, we put a probiotic in her water and in the water of the others.

I hope you enjoy this small garden tour, all those little guys live harmoniously here and help to keep a natural balance so pest control is reduced to eating wasps larvae as stated in a previous article...I have to thank here my friend Francois Vanderschricke...

If the female rejects the male during the second spit off, she is very likely pregnant. Then with one last contraction she pushes him out and, splat, he hits the ground. If she isn't already pregnant, she'll sit down with her legs tucked underneath her...

Remember when Kerla came to our farm ? Kerla never had a girlfriend before, so he didn't know quite what to do. Then Mom thought, “What's the use?” So she caught them both and put them in a pen.

My salad was composed of butter lettuce; arugula; and mizuna, a peppery, Japanese green somewhat similar to frisee. Add shallot/garlic scape and cook while stirring, 1 minute. It's cubed and sauteed to render off some of the fat and crisp up the bits.

When the skittery young ewe rejects her lambs or the doe dies of birthing complications or when the long-awaited future Paint Horse champion is plain unsullied brown? I love spring! Spring is a magical time on the farm.

If you were counting, yes--that was a list of 42 states. So you see, you'll have to read the whole article to learn the identity of your own state's favorite. One unsettling aspect of this creature's appetite is its non-selectivity--it will eat anything...

Soon after that, mated or not, males die. Arkansas Chocolate tarantulas are shades of brown, but some of the world's tarantulas are much more colorful. He caught it in his hat and carried it down to our woods to let it go.

I always wondered where she kept all the nest-making ingredients she collected throughout the winter. Gotta love the optimism of a 5-year-old. Unfortunately, this wonderful woman is now suffering from dementia.

They will also use a nest box, particularly one covered with bark, mounted about 15 feet above the ground.This talkative species can be heard producing a loud nasal “yank” sound, often repeated several times in a row.

In fact, 'chamomile' stems from the Greek word for "ground apple". Yerba Mate is mainly cultivated in South America and distributed in tea bags across the world. You can steep Yerba Mate to taste, as it does not become more bitter or astringent the longer...

Geese are a huge responsibility because they live a long time. The day before yesterday, a big flock of wild geese went winging south, way up in the sky. When Mom saw him coming she was scared and tried to keep him away.

When I grated both the raw radishes and carrots and added a vaguely Moroccan and vaguely what-have-I-got-in-the-cupboard dressing, the result was this tasty spring salad. Round radishes resist cracking open even when they get pretty big.

With each molt their wings get bigger and bigger. This hardens into a tough, brown egg case called an ootheca, which protects the eggs over winter well into the following spring. They have cool-looking, triangular-shaped heads that can swivel 180 degrees;...

The squabs fly from the nest about two weeks after hatching, whereupon the parents begin caring for their next clutch. Good plants for the mourning dove's food and shelter include grasses, sunflowers, spruces and pines.

I love to see a swarm of bees leaping into the air. With the weather warming and the blooms increasing, being a beekeeper means you must be ready to change your plans for the day at a moment's notice.