Update on the Farmstead

We've had some very busy days lately, and here are a few photos to show some of what we've been doing.
Jonathan has his second batch of broilers for the season in the coop. His first batch are out in the field in movable pens. It's amazing how quickly they grow. We will butcher the first 200 at the end of this month.

We also have 39 turkeys running around in another section of the coop. Thankfully Jonathan has only lost one of the batch. We haven't had turkeys for about 3 years, and all I remember about them is how tough it was to keep them alive for the first 6 weeks or so. After that they were tough!

The Rhode Island Red hens that Jonathan purchased for egg laying are now out in the big field surrounded by poultry netting. At the time the photo was taken they must have been in their coop.

One night we had a lot of thunder and lightening, so Peter shut off the electric fence. I'm not sure what can happen to the fence during a storm, but apparently it can sustain damage. In the morning Jonathan discovered something had gotten through the netting and killed 14 chickens, with another 4 unaccounted for. We suspect it was a skunk, since some dead chickens had blood on their necks but others were eaten and the carcasses left behind. We won't do that again! Thankfully nothing else has happened to the rest.

This is Jefferson Davis -- Jeff for short. He caused quite a bit of problems last night during milking time for Sandy, our Jersey cow. This was Sandy's first cycle when Jeff was around and she was in heat, so she was very crabby when Peter brought her into the barn for milking. She wouldn't stand still, and kicked over the milk bucket, dousing our dog Samson. He didn't seem to mind, though, and proceeded to lick up what milk he could reach.

And finally -- progress is being made with the installation of our siding. It's looking pretty good.

There's lots more to tell about what's been happening!