Notes on the Making of a Rope Halter

Top knot is a Fiador knot,
Bottom knot is a Matthew Walker knot,
aka the Double Overhand (which is incorrect.)

(This is a post by James Haggarty, not Laura, who knows nothing about knotting.)

When first attempting to make a rope halter, one finds dozens of written and video tutorials. Unfortunately, almost all have the same two mistakes. From the AQHA online guide to many of the university extension papers, they have left out one important step and have used an incorrect name for one of the two knots.

The Missing Instruction:

The various guides state that you find the middle of the rope, make an overhand knot and then a second overhand knot xx inches to the left. Then follow the rest of the instructions. If you do this, you may find that one of the two strands is too short to tie around the back of the horse’s head.

According to ListentoYourHorse.com, and with which I agree, the following is an important step and will save you hours of aggravation and money.

“Fold your length of rope in half, so you have 2 pieces of rope of equal length. From the mid-point, move 3 feet (or 1 metre) to the RIGHT of the mid-point. This point is your new “middle”. And the left piece of the rope is now 6 feet longer than the right-hand side piece.

Note: For a horse-sized halter, you would move 2 feet to the right of the mid-point; so your left piece of rope is 4 feet longer.”

The Misnomer:

One cannot find other references to the double overhand knot in other tutorials. In fact, the real double overhand knot is completely different. This knot used in halters is more widely known as a Matthew Walker knot, or more specifically a two-strand Matthew Walker knot. There are many excellent tutorials and videos on the Matthew Walker knot.

And finally, although not an error, many of the instructions on making a Fiador knot are confusing. The video tutorials by the KnotGirlz on Youtube are excellent and can help clear the fog.

               

 

Heirloom Seed Companies

Company Name

(click the name for the link)                                    

Adaptive Seeds                                             

Ann Arbor Seed Company                            

Annie's Heirloom Seeds                                   

Appalachian Heirloom Plant Farm              

BBB Seeds                                               

Botanical Interests                                        

Center of the Web Seed Company               

Clear Creek Seeds                                                                                      

Cross Country Nurseries                       

Diane's Flower Seeds                               

Double T Bar Farm 

Driftless Seeds                                       

Eden Brothers                                                              

Experimental Farm Network 

Farmacie Isolde

Fedco                                                         

Filaree Garlic Farm                               

Foundroot Seeds                                     

Fruition Seeds                                                 

Garden Hoard                                                                      

Great Lakes Staple Seeds                       

Grow Organic                                                

High Mowing Organic Seeds                       

Hudson Valley Seed Company               

J. Hudson Seeds                                       

Johnny's Selected Seeds                         

Kitazawa Seed Company                       

Kitchen Garden Seeds

Landis Valley Museum                                                     

Mary's Heirloom Seeds                               

Michigan Heirlooms                               

Mountain Valley Growers                       

Native Seeds                                               

Natural Gardening Company                       

Nature and Nurture Seeds                       

New England Seed Company                                              

North Circle Seeds                                                           

Orange Pippins 

Pinetree Garden Seeds                               

Plant Good Seed Company                       

Prairie Moon Nursery                            

Pueblo Seeds                                               

Quail Seeds                                               

Redwood Seeds                                       

Refining Fire Chiles                               

Renee's Garden                                                                              

Restoration Seeds                                       

Salt of the Earth Seeds                               

Sandhill Preservation Center                       

Sandia Seed Company                               

Seed Savers Exchange                               

Seeds Now                                               

Seeds of Change                                      

Seeds of Diversity                                       

Select Seeds                                                                                                

Siskiyou Seeds                                         

Small House Farm                                       

Snake River Seed Cooperative               

Sow True Seeds

Sundial Seed Company                               

Sustainable Mountain Agriculture               

Territorial Seed                                         

Terroir Seeds                                               

The Hippy Seed Company                       

The Kusa Seed Society                               

Todd's Seeds                                               

True Love Seeds                                       

Turtle Tree Seeds                                       

Two Seeds in a Pod                                         

Uprising Seeds                                       

Vibrant Earth Seeds                               

Victory Seeds                                                 

Wild Garden Seed                                       

Wood Prairie Farm                                       

Hybrid Sourdough Discard Bread Recipe

As so many are these days I began to bake bread again once the Covid quarantine started back in end of February. I used to bake bread, years and years ago, but for whatever reason, stopped. But now I am baking again, which is pretty funny because I don't even eat bread now (I eat low carb). But my husband has the metabolism of a teenage boy, and typically goes through a half a loaf of bread a day. So I bake bread or rolls several times a week, often sourdough.

I put together this recipe today because I had a fair amount of “discard” (unfed sourdough starter) in my refrigerator that I wanted to use up. Note that my starter is made with AP flour in a 1:1 ratio. The result below is a 76% hydration dough.

 

Sourdough Discard Bread

Ingredients:

400g unfed sourdough starter discard cold from the fridge (note this is 200 g AP flour and 200 g water)
300 g bread flour
180 g lukewarm water (between 105 to 115 degrees Fahrenheit)
2 tsp (about 12g) sea salt
1 ¼ tsp instant dry yeast (not quite 5 grams)
1 tsp sugar or honey (a little over 4 grams)
Optional: 2 TBSP of vital wheat gluten (useful if your starter is made with AP flour.)

Directions:

Into a large bowl pour the discard, water, and sugar. Stir to dissolve and then add the yeast. Stir to dissolve the yeast.

Add the flour and vital wheat gluten if using it and gently mix using your hands or a spatula. This will form a rough and shaggy dough.

Add in the sea salt and gently mix until absorbed.

Let the dough rest for 20 minutes covered by a towel.

After the rest, with wet hands perform a stretch and fold around all four sides of the dough (for a total of four, rotating the bowl each time, so north, east, south, west.) The dough will seem wet and still shaggy.

Gently form the dough into a ball and let it rest for 40 minutes, covered with a towel.

Repeat the stretch and fold four times as above. Let it rest another 40 minutes.

Do this twice more, for a total of four stretch and folds. At the end of these the dough will become smooth and elastic and less sticky.

At the end of the fourth fold dump the dough onto a floured surface, and flour your hands. Gently pre-shape the dough into either a boule, a batard, or a loaf.

Let the dough rest for 20 minutes uncovered. Preheat your oven now to 475 degrees F.

Do a final shape of the dough into the shape of your choice, ensuring good surface tension. If you wish you can score the dough.

Cook in a Dutch oven, loaf pan or on a baking stone. If using a Dutch oven cover the dough for the first 30 minutes or so. Depending on your flour used and the container, the bread will take between 30 to 40 minutes to be done, and should be golden brown. One test for doneness is temperature: the interior should reach between 205 to 210 degrees F, but also note the color of the bread’s surface, if it looks light give it more time.

Let the bread cool for at least an hour or two before slicing. Enjoy!

 

How To Harden Off Plants

Tomato seedlings outside being hardened off 2018

Start slowly. Put the plants outside on a partly-cloudy day the first time, with not too much wind.

Make sure they’re well-watered. Leave them out for about 20 minutes the first time, and not at noon (before 11 or after 1 is ideal.) Keep an eye on them, and if they start to get droopy, bring them back in and cut back on the time the next day to 15 minutes, or 10 if need be.

If it’s windy, put them in a cardboard box so they get light but not knocked over.

Gradually every day increase the amount of sunlight by about ten to fifteen minutes. Again, keep an eye on them, don’t let them get sunburned (it will make their leaves turn brown and fall off, so to be avoided!)

Work your way up to about four hours a day, then you can leave them out at night as long as the temps are above 40 degrees.

Once the nighttime temps are above 55 degrees, they’re ready to go in the garden. If you plant them before that they won’t do well. So being patient is worth it.

If you have them in pots for more than two weeks, give them a small amount of fertilizer, at about half the strength showing on the bottle. I like to use fish emulsion; it’s gentle but gives them nitrogen, which they need.

Best of luck! 

A New Seed Saving Technique

I learned of this seed saving technique this past summer and really like how easy it makes the process.

Sometimes, when fermenting seeds, it's easy to leave them in just a bit too long, and then they sprout, which makes them useless for saving.

Here's the way I've been saving seeds this summer (I have only done this with tomato seeds, just fyi):

Needed:
     1 pint mason jar
     1 cup measure
     Oxyclean washing powder (just the regular version.)

Directions:

• Squeeze the juice and seeds from a tomato into a one cup measure.
• If the amount is less than one cup, add water to make it one cup.
• Add 1 TBSP Oxyclean to the cup of liquid.
• Stir gently.
• Wait 30 minutes.
• After 30 minutes stir again, then rinse the seeds in a fine mesh strainer until they no longer feel slippery.
• Spread the seeds out onto a non-coated paper plate to dry and store as you normally would.

SO EASY!

Hardening Off Plants

Seedlings out being hardened off.

I start seeds under grow lights in my house. Before the plants can be put in my garden, I have to put them through a process called hardening off. It's not hard, but somewhat tedious if you don't work from home as I do.

I start when the plants are about seven weeks from sowing, especially the tomatoes (the superhot peppers I grow take a lot longer to germinate, so their timetable is extended.) Ideally you want the plants to have several pairs of leaves after the first cotyledons, and be about two to three inches tall (depending on the type.)

I try to start out on a slightly cloudy day with not too much wind. If it's windy, I put the plants in a box, so they can get light but not be too knocked about too much (or knocked over if I have them in cups, as shown at left.)

I begin with well-watered plants set outside to get 20 minutes of sunlight at about 11 am or 1 pm. Keep an eye on the plants the first time, if they start to get droopy, bring them in sooner. The next day I increase the time by five to ten minutes, depending on the time of day and the intensity of the sunlight. I also begin letting them get wind on them by the third time out.

This is not an exact thing, you have to wing it somewhat, depending on the variables and how the plants look. Pay attention to browning of leaves and droopiness. If need be, scale back. Better to take a bit longer than give a plant sunburn.

By the end of a week of this, your plants should be able to spend the night outdoors, as long as the temps don't drop below about 40 degrees F. Keep increasing the time in the sunlight until you've hit between three and four hours, and from that point onward, you should be able to leave them out all day and night.

Before transplanting the seedlings into your garden, it's helpful to know how warm the soil is. Not everyone wants to invest in a soil thermometer, but a good rule of thumb is to not put plants in the garden if the evening temperatures are still below 55 degrees F. That should mean your soil temperature is at 60 degrees F or above.

You can plant seedlings before that soil temp, but it could stunt their growth, and will certainly slow it. Better to wait a bit to be sure they get a good start.

Good luck!

Using Winter Sowing to Start Seeds

Yellow onions in their winter sowing jug.

This is the first year I am using a seed starting technique called Winter Sowing. It's pretty simple, and allows you to start seeds without using grow lights, heat mats, or a greenhouse or cold frame.

You start out with simple plastic jugs, like milk, water, or even cat litter jugs. (Note, I'll take more photos of this process, but wanted to describe it today for a friend.)

It's pretty easy. You need a clean, empty plastic jug, some soil (not seed starting mix, but actual potting soil), scissors, duct tape, a Sharpie or wax pencil, and some seeds.


1. Cut the clean plastic jug almost in half, leaving a hinge on the backside so you can flop the top open.

2. Using a drill or a nail, put some holes in the bottom so the soil will drain. Not big ones, but about eight or ten holes.

3. Wet down your soil in a bucket. I do this before I use it so it doesn't have any dry pockets later.

4. Add about four inches of the pre-moistened soil so it's filled almost to the cut.

Jugs seen from above.

5. Plant your seeds as the packets instruct with regards to depth and spacing.

6. Mist the top of the soil so some water trickles down and ensures the seeds are nicely wet (but don't flood them!)

7. Close the hinged piece and duct tape it all around the cut.

8. Use a Sharpie or wax pencil (I prefer wax pencils, as they don't bleed or fade) to note the seed sown and the date you're sowing them.

9. If you're using a large jug (like a cat litter jug) put several small strips of duct tape across the open top of the jug, so some water gets in when it rains but not too much cold air gets in.

10. Place the jugs in an area that gets full sun, (but not too windy) and wait. Check about once a week or so and when the seeds are ready, they'll sprout!

When it's sunny as spring advances, you'll want to open the tops and let the seedlings get some full sun, but be sure to close them up again at night.

And prepare to be amazed at how easy it is to start seeds without expensive setups, just some old jugs and some soil.

This blog post lists seeds that work well with Winter Sowing.

In another post I'll describe how to separate seedlings for transplanting which might have grown together very thickly without damaging their roots.

Flower Jellies for Canning

Every spring I wait for the Redbud trees to bloom, because I know I can make a gorgeous and tasty jelly from them. But they're not the only flower from which jelly can be made, there are many more!

Flowers that can be made into jelly include: Black Locust, Honeysuckle, Violets, Lilac, Dandelion, Sunflower, Kudzu, Queen Anne's Lace, Lavender, Elderflower, Hibiscus, Clover (red and white), Rose petals, Nasturtium, and Forsythia.

Here's my method:

       Ingredients:

• 4 tightly packed cups of flower blooms
• 1 quart of hot (but not boiling) water
• Approximately one cup of pure water
• 1 package of Sure Jel pectin
• 1 tablespoon of bottled lemon juice
• A pinch of butter (about one teaspoon)
• 8 half pint jelly jars (NB: this may make only 7 half pints and one quarter pint.)

      Directions:

• Pick over the blooms, removing dirt and insects.
• Wash the blooms gently in a colander.
• Put the 4 cups of blooms in a quart mason jar. 
• Pour 1 quart of hot water over the blooms.
• Let jar cool, and then put in a refrigerator for 24 hours.
• After 24 hours, strain the liquid through a coffee filter or jelly bag. That should leave about 3 cups of liquid.
• Wash the jars, lids and rims, and put the jars into a pot with hot but not boiling water to keep warm while you prepare the jelly.
• Add enough pure water to the flower liquid to make a total of four cups. Place it into a large pot and bring it to a roiling boil.
• Add one package of Sure Jel pectin and one tablespoon of lemon juice to the mixture. 
• Bring it to a roiling boil that cannot be stirred down.
• Add five cups of sugar and return the mixture to a roiling boil that can’t be stirred down. Once you reach that stage, boil for one minute.
• After one minute, remove from the heat.
• Stir in a pinch of butter at this stage to help remove bubbles.
• Fill the clean hot jars to the ¼” headspace line. 
• Wipe the rim of each jar, then apply a lid and a jar rim, tightening to fingertip tightness.
• Follow your canner’s instructions and water bath can the jars for ten minutes.
• Remove from the canner and place on a towel to cool. After 12 hours, remove the rims and check the jars to ensure the lids have sealed. Any which have not, place in your refrigerator and use within a week. Those that have, store in a dark place.

Note that Redbud blossoms make a gorgeous pink jelly, but the color fades over time. So if you’re gifting them to someone else, do so sooner rather than later. They will still taste the same.

Seed Saving with Blossom Bags

Once I became hooked on growing my own tomatoes and other food, I wanted to start saving the seeds from what I grew so I could use them the following year.

The principle is simple: make sure the plant you want to save seeds from doesn't become cross-pollinated by another plant of a different variety.

So if I want to save seeds from my San Marzano tomatoes, I want to be sure the blossoms aren't pollinated by my Striped Roman plants.

An easy way to do this with self-pollinating plants like tomatoes is to use blossom bags. You can make them yourself out of fine mesh organza if you have the sewing gene, or you can buy them online. I like the ones that Seed Savers Exchange offers, they're not too expensive and well made. They work well for things like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and even beans.

Blossom Bags from
Seed Savers Exchange

Place the bag over the blossom before it opens, to ensure no other pollen has gotten in. Close the ribbon gently but completely around the stem. You may need to strip a leaf or two off to ensure you can do so and leave enough room for the growing fruit. Some people will tap the plant once a day or so in order to be sure the blossom is pollinated. But do so very gently, as sometimes that will cause the blossom to fall off.

Once the fruit is formed you can gently remove the bag, and mark the fruit for later collection and saving. (I use a twist tie or piece of a pipe cleaner.) Let it ripen, and once it has, harvest it.

Certain seeds, especially tomatoes and cucumbers, should be fermented for a few days to remove germination inhibitors and soften the gelatin coating that covers them. Doing so is simple, and you can use a mason or other jar. Others, like pumpkins and squash, can just be cleaned and dried.

For wet vegetables like tomatoes, rinse the tomato well in water to remove any dirt or fungus clinging to the skin. Then cut it open, and scrape the gelatinous material that the seeds are in out into a jar. If the tomato is very dry (like a paste tomato) you can add some water, but you don't always need to if the fruit is wet.

I cover the jar with a piece of paper towel secured by a rubber band, and put the date on the jar. You want to let the seeds ferment for several days at about 70 degrees (the top of a fridge is a good place for this.)

Once or twice a day give the jar a swirl, during which you'll notice some of the seeds sink to the bottom. Those will be your most viable seeds, and the ones you want to save.

After three days, put another one or two inches of lukewarm water into the jar, and swirl it around again, then let the seeds settle for a minute or so. Then gently pour the top later of gunk out of the jar, which will take with it some of the seeds that didn't sink. Rinse the remaining seeds several more times using a very fine mesh strainer, making sure there is no gelatinous material clinging to them.

Next comes a step you can skip if you're just saving the seeds for yourself, but you really should do if you're going to sell or give the seeds to anyone else. You want to ensure there are no fungi or molds on the seeds before you dry them, so a quick rinse in a 10% bleach solution is needed.

Be sure to use just a plain old 5.25% bleach, not concentrated or with any fragrance. Just the cheap stuff. Make a ten percent solution by adding 4 1/2 teaspoons of beach to one cup of pure water, or 1 1/2 cups of bleach to one gallon of pure water if you're doing a lot of batches at once. Note, you must discard each batch after use (don't reuse it on another batch), and it will only keep for about 12 hours. So smaller batches works better I find.

Now sources differ on how long to leave the seeds in a bleach solution, some say you must do so for 30 minutes, some as little as a minute. I leave mine in the solution for about five minutes, swirling them around about once a minute to be sure all the seeds make contact with the solution.

Note that some people use a stronger solution (1 part bleach to four parts water), they are the ones who leave the seeds in for the shorter amount of time.

Drying seeds on a paper plate

Once you've finished the bleach soak, rinse the seeds very thoroughly to make sure no traces of the bleach remain. Then dump them out onto a coffee filter or paper plate to dry, labeling it with the type of seed and the date processed. Be sure to spread them out so they dry evenly, and swirl them around on the second day and each day afterwards (they may stick to the filter or plate, if so gently pry them loose and stir.) I leave mine on top of a bookcase for about a week. After that, you're done!

You will want to put them into a small paper envelope for storage, and then into an airtight container like a mason jar (I don't like putting the seeds in small ziplocs for long term storage, although I do use those to ship seeds to friends.) Some people store their seeds in the fridge, I don't have room in mine for seeds so I keep them in my cool basement.

And there you are! Seeds kept from your own plants which you can use to grow more of them.

Should You Buy Chickens?

I am editing this for April of 2020. With the Corona Virus upon us, a lot of people are considering getting their own chickens. As someone who's had them since 2001, I have some thoughts on this.

The first thing you need to know is, owning your own chickens will not save you money. Not at all. Not on eggs, not on meat. Just walk away if you're thinking that. It will cost you lots of money at first, and more than the food would cost down the road. My grandfather had chickens (as did his father) and my grandmother used to quip about "The $10,000 Eggs" he'd get. But if you're sure you don't care about the cost, read on. Also remember, you can find a farmer near you from whom to buy eggs at Local Harvest.

There are two basic types of people who own chickens: those who treat them as pets, and those who treat them as livestock.

Of course, there's a lot of grey in there, it's not all black and white. But if you boil it down, that's what you get. Most people who breed chickens seriously treat them as livestock. I am one of those. If you ever catch me kissing a chicken or putting a diaper or sweater on it you will know I've gone 'round the bend and should have my keys taken away.

But either way, there are some cold hard truths that people need to face before they get poultry. And the main one is, what will I do when a chicken needs to be culled?

There's that word, culling. It means, bluntly, usually, to put to death. To remove from the breeding pool. To kill.

And if you own chickens, sooner or later, you're going to have to kill one (or more, more likely, as time goes on.)

There are very few vets who deal with chickens, and the ones who do, generally don't know as much as the seasoned poultry breeder does about the birds. Poultry health is typically not something vets learn in university, and for the most part, most of the medications breeders use on chickens are off-label, as there just aren't that many developed for chickens.

I don't know who said it originally, but I'm pretty sure it was poultry judge and longtime breeder Matt Lhamon who quipped to me early on in my chicken adventures "The best cure for a sick chicken is an axe." And sadly, it's true.

Chickens are peculiar. When they become ill, they hide it very well until they are very ill, and close to death. So once a chicken starts showing signs of illness, they are usually too far gone to do anything about.

As well, there's the problem of the law of averages when it comes to hatching chicks. Give or take, about half of the chicks that hatch will be males. And unfortunately, most people don't need a flock of half males and half females for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that a lot of males will fight each other, sometimes to death. I find a good ratio of males to females is about 1 male to every 8 or so females. So then you have to decide, what will I do with all those extra males?

You can try to sell them of course, or give them away, but if you do it's likely they'll wind up being killed anyway to make dinner for someone. No one wants a yard full of cockerels as pets. And I prefer to keep my extra males and eat them myself.

So ideally, before a person gets chickens, they need to ask themselves, "Will I be able to kill a chicken when the time comes?"

If you can't answer that question with a yes, then you shouldn't get chickens, in my opinion. Of course, your mileage may vary, and I am sure there are lots of people who get chickens who don't ever kill one. I suppose a vet, paid enough money, will euthanize a chicken, but I know I've never gone that route. But over time that would get relatively expensive, and isn't a really practical way to go.

I encourage friends who have the space for them to get chickens, I think it's a great thing for kids to learn about animal husbandry, and nothing beats an egg warm from the hen when it comes to taste. But anyone thinking about it should also be sure they can answer that question. Because sooner or later, the time will come when you'll have to kill a chicken.

You Can Help The Bees

These days bees seem to be in the news a lot. People often ask what they can do to help the bees, and one way to do so is to provide them with water during the summer. If you want to go even further, you can make a simple sugar syrup to fee the bees during the dearth (when most sources of nectar are not flowing.)

You can add either liquid to any number of containers: a plain plastic plate with some rocks in it, a bucket with some corks, or a chicken waterer with some pebbles. The important part is to a) ensure the bees have good footing so they don't drown, and b) if you're feeding sugar syrup, to do it right, and change it before it gets moldy.

A small bucket with corks for the bees to perch on,
and a handkerchief for them to suck water out of,
works very well (they won't roll the corks, don't worry.)

Making sugar syrup for bees is easy. You use a ratio of 1 part granulated white sugar (nothing else please, not honey, not corn syrup, not brown sugar) to 2 parts water.

I use an electric teakettle to boil the water (recommended to remove anything that might make the syrup mold faster), pour it over the sugar, stir, and let cool.

A simple plastic plate with some rocks for the bees to perch on.

Another great way to help bees and other pollinators is to plant wildflowers and trees in your yard which provide nectar for them. A long list of these for plants in North America can be found on Wikipedia here.

It's also really easy to sow white clover in your lawn. It doesn't get too tall (cuts down on mowing) and is a good source of nectar for the bees throughout much of the summer.

Even the simplest of things, like a bucket of water with some corks, can a great help. Just remember to change it regularly and keep it clean. And thanks! The bees appreciate it.

Even a chicken waterer with some pebbles works.

Splitting a Bee Hive

Earlier this week I was invited to help a local friend "make a split" of one of her beehives. Beekeepers do this to keep strong hives from swarming and to ensure the bees have enough space to grow.

Bees reproduce by swarming. In nature and in apiaries, sooner or later a strong hive of bees will run out of room, and will feel the urge to swarm. A swarm generally has the old queen with it, who will accompany a large group of foragers and nurse bees to a new location a scout finds for them.

The hive left behind will have newly laid eggs, from which they will hatch a new queen. Every egg laid by a queen bee has the potential to be a queen, it is the nurse bees who decide when to create a new one, either to supersede a queen which doesn't live up to their standards, or to replace one that has been injured or has died.

A strong hive booming with bees

Making a split allows a hive to grow without going through the swarming process. Beekeepers who are paying attention in the spring know that splitting a hive will both a) give the bees the space they need and b) give them yet another free hive of bees!

It's a pretty simple process, but you do have to pay attention. The way my friend N does it is to start by inspecting a hive to ensure it's healthy and has a booming population.

She leaves the queen behind in the original hive body, and moves four frames of new eggs, brood, and nurse bees to a new hive. It's important to ensure you have newly laid eggs, as the bees need one under three days old to convert to a queen, which they do by feeding the developing larva royal jelly and making the cell large enough to hold the larger queen body.

Choose four frames with
newly laid eggs and brood

Once she moves the four frames, N uses sliding dividers in the hive to close the frames up, which ensures the bees don't have too much space to try to keep warm, which can be problematic. Brood needs to be kept warm, and if the bees have to protect too much space as they're doing so, the brood might suffer and the new queen not hatch.

In a week or so N will check the new split to ensure they've made a new queen, and take other steps if they haven't. Simple and effective, making splits is a skill every beekeeper should know how to do.

A finished split