Around The Farm In The Month Of March

Today is the last day of March and it seemed fitting to post a monthly review. Winter has continued almost unabated, including major snow/wind/cold winter storm on the 12th, 13th and 30th. I have 3 to 9 foot snow banks at the edges of my driveway right now. I added another bird feeder, so was feeding the local birds mixed seed, sunflower seed and suet. They were happy to eat everything I put out:

My little hens stayed indoors and I kept them supplied with layer pellets and heated water. I cleaned them regularly and replaced the pine shavings on their floor:

 I also collected eggs daily. My 12 hens were producing about 6 eggs per day and are now averaging 10 per day. Once I let them outdoors, however, I may have trouble finding the eggs:

This is a people's eye view of the chicken coop, the scene I see as I'm tending to my feathered pets:

As for the cows, they had become much more winter hardy than they were when they arrived here from Virginia in November. If you are wondering why they look more red in some photos and brown in other photos, it's all a matter of how the lights hits them:

I pulled this frozen chunk of hay out of their bale feeder to make room for a new bale. But the girls, apparently, had become attached to that icy slab. So instead of eating their fresh new hay, they persisted in trying to eat this giant haysicle:

Their contentedness after a good hay dinner is always apparent. They lie down for a nap and cud chewing session:

I've wondered for some time how to tell a Red Angus from a Red Poll. There are subtle differences, but the internet told me that only Red Polls had white tail switches. I balked, thinking that mine did not, but then took a closer look. Indeed, they all have white hairs in their tail switches:

Inside the house, the dogs lived a comfortable life. In this photo, little Clover used Seamus' fat and wool as a living doggy bed while Fergus snuggled up close:

Little PeeWee, being nearly deaf and blind, has nonetheless made himself a real part of the family and delights in being part of the dog pack. Here he is, with gigantic Seamus trying to share his dog bed and Clover looking on from behind:

Daphne, Madeline and Fergus were on top of my bed. That white stripe on the bed was just a patch of sunlight:

One last picture of Seamus with his little buddy, PeeWee: