Today, we received a batch of new chicks from the hatchery. It's a real treat to watch the boys experience little teeny birds, especially as they grow.

Comet and chicksSam and chicks

-Brian

By the end of the month, we will receive a new batch of birds, chickens and turkeys. As we've done before, we're getting a mixture of heritage chickens, but we decided to buy Slate Blue turkeys.

The Blue Slate is listed as "Watch" on The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy's watch list. The turkeys we had last year were White Hollands, which are "Threatened." We still have three hens but decided to try a new breed to see how we like them and to add a little color to our flock.

This weekend, our friend, Jennie, came to help on the farm. She commented on the calls of the turkey hens, and it reminded me how much the toms' calls defined the sounds of summer and fall. In January, when we lost our last tom, it changed the landscape of the poultry house. The girls miss him and still seem a little lost without their protector and leader. I can't wait to see this new batch grow and take over the farm with their characteristic strut, wing display and chorus of calls.

-Brian

After the Great Mink Incident of 2009, Kelly and our friend, Rose, boarded up an old door on the south side of the chicken coop. The door had significant gaps and was showing the effects of time, plus we never used it.

This year, we're planning to provide the birds a pasture area instead of letting them have free run of the farm. They'll still get to scratch for bugs, eat grass and do all the things they're supposed to do, just not everywhere. We've noticed that turkeys won't think twice about digging up a garlic snack, and chickens think that we planted lettuce just for them.

We made the decision to fence in the area to the south of the chicken coop, and that means we had to replace the old, boarded-up door. So, this weekend, I enlisted the aid of a trusty assistant, Jackson, and set to work. We had another door on hand (hooray for old farms!), so we removed the existing door, replaced some hinges, attached the new door and installed a latch. Perfect! It took a few hours, but it was time well spent with an almost-eight year-old.

-Brian