Baldwin City ? Poultry knowledge runs deep in the extended Vesecky family, as a conversation with 15-year-old Alison Davids proves.

“I can look at four chickens and tell you in about five minutes which one has been laying eggs the longest,” she said. “I don’t even have to touch the bird.”

The secret is in the amount of pigment laying hens have on areas of their bodies not covered by feathers, the Spring Hill High School sophomore said.. The longer a chicken lays, the more pigment it loses. A young layers legs will be bright yellow, while those of an old hen will be white, she said.

Kaw Valley Farm Tour regulars probably would not be surprised a granddaughter of Sharon and John Vesecky would have such a thorough knowledge of chickens. The tour has visited their Vesecky Family Farm in Baldwin City for the past eight years. There, visitors are treated to a glimpse into the family’s poultry operation of chickens, turkeys, guinea hens, geese and ducks.

Such will be the case again this year with the Vesecky Family Farm at 1814 North 600 Road on the Kaw Valley Farm Tour’s itinerary.

“It’s like a party with a lot of guests,” Sharon Vesecky said of the farm tour. “We enjoy it.”

Helping assure visitors will also enjoy the experience at the Vinland Valley is the family of son and daughter-in-law William and Joanna Vesecky, who live in another house on the farm, and the Spring Hill family of daughter Laura Davids.

Sharon explains the family raises poultry for eggs and meat, selling the birds, which are processed off site, to such places as 715 restaurant and the Merc in Lawrence. They do some direct sales and are now taking orders for the farm’s free-range turkeys for Thanksgiving. Orders can be made through Vesecky’s Quilters’ Paradise at 713 Eighth St. in downtown Baldwin City.

The farm’s chickens are “pasture-raised,” Vesecky said, drawing a distinction between that term and “free-range” chickens.

“The free-range label doesn’t mean what you think it does,” she said. “Free range means the door to the coop must be opened five minutes a day. After they are feathered out, our chickens are in the pasture all day.”

Vesecky and her granddaughter, Lacey Vesecky, said they can taste the difference in the eggs and meat the farm produces. Customers can, too, Vesecky said.

“Our customers are our testimony,” she said. “A lot of our customers are return customers. That tells us we are doing something right.”

Early Saturday farm tour visitors will get to taste the distinction. The farm will have $3 and $5 breakfasts available of scrambled eggs, sausage, a roll or muffin and beverage and a later lunch with hotdogs or brats, s’mores and toasted marshmallows. The breakfast and lunch are to raise funds for Lacey and Alison’s planned trips in late November to the National 4-H Congress in Atlanta, Ga., after their 4-H project books were judged the best in their respective divisions at the Kansas State Fair. Lacey will be taking her poultry book to the congress, and Alison her woodworking book. Any additional money will be used for Alison’s trip next spring to the National 4-H Poultry Judging Contest in Louisville, Ky., and Lacey’s trip to the National 4-H Camp in Washington, D.C., next summer.

In addition to the food, farm tour visitors of all ages will find entertaining diversions at the Vesecky Vinland Valley farmstead. Among the activities they’ve planned are a tractor tire “sandbox” filled with corn kernels for younger children and a hayrack ride.

“We have mobile home steps attached to the hay wagon so everyone can ride,” Vesecky said. “One woman with a walker told me she never thought she could go on a hayrack ride.”

The farm tour is an opportunity for the Veseckys to introduce visitors to the food the farm produces, and gives town and city dwelling visitors a chance to experience how farm families live, Vesecky said.

“Some people do remember spending time on their grandparents’ farms, but most of the people on the tours are city people,” she said. “Through the years, we have had the chance to educate them a little bit.

“Some people come just to enjoy the quiet and fresh air. The first year, we had a couple come Saturday and Sunday. The second day, the dad just sat on the front porch steps, watching kids run around and play on the swing set.”