The keets turned fifteen weeks old yesterday. The most change in them is visible in their heads, which continue to grow their bony helmets and take on deeper purple and aqua hues.

On Friday the keets will have been in their coop for six weeks, which means—drumroll, please—that they can officially be released to free range and will know to return to the safety of their coop each night. I am not sure how studying every knothole and nailhole inside their coop will help them identify it from outside, at fifty yards and with the local fox hot on their tails, but I am just following all the advice I’ve heard and read.

They definitely show curiosity about an open door, and I think it will be fun to watch them explore a brave new world. I plan on releasing just a few at a time so that hopefully the sounds of their flock mates will keep them near—and returning to—the coop.

I know that there will be inevitable losses, but I am hoping that at least a few survive to do their job, which is to rid this farm of ticks, and mice and garden pests and snakes, and to alert me to to any untoward activity on the property.