Fair is Fowl and Fowl are Fair Indeed

A Blue Slate Turkey poult, about two days old.

So last week was a busy one for us here on our little farm. Our pre-ordered Blue Slate heritage turkeys and Silver Laced Wyandotte hen babies arrived from the hatchery. We have raised our own bantam chickens before--the old fashioned way, under mama hen. This is our first foray into raising without a mama hen, in a box, under a heat lamp. A week in my vote goes to the old fashioned way. Turkeys aren't very bright and are far more challenging to care for than chickens. I keep hearing how friendly and charming turkeys are, but so far they are just loud and very environment sensitive. The plan for these little guys is for Thanksgiving feasting. I think we'll have about seven to sell, and four are already spoken for as of today. We are thinking about a few geese for our own Christmas dinners as well. More on that as it develops.

The turkeys in their first home (we've upsized twice already).

The chickens are another story altogether. They are like land-based pirahna the way they swarm over their food. They are attractive chicks, but really don't like me putting my hand in their box at all. They are a bit more hysterical than the turkeys, who don't care if I come in and replace feed and water. These are all hens and will be for our egg-laying flock.

Silver Laced Wyandotte chicks about three days old.

Our friend Chicken Mary commented that this photo looked more like a swarm of bees than baby chicks. I agree with her. They act more like a swarm of bees, too.

Speaking of bees...My bee hive arrived yesterday. I am very excited about having bees. I pick up my 'nuc' (bee nucleus hive), an already established hive group with a working queen, on Monday night. I'm taking a bee class at Young Harris next weekend. More on that in a separate blog entry.