Farm Update For Mid-March

The little hens began laying again in February and were doing pretty well. But then their output slowed down again and I worried that one or more of them might be eating the eggs. I'd seen a hen devouring an egg which had accidentally broken. She might have learned how tasty they were. The egg reduction later turned out to have been a temporary phenomenon, though, and my little hens began laying in earnest:

But mostly, they are happy and contented fowl, living in a comfortable coop with aromatic pine shavings on the floor. Life is good if you are a bantam hen at Windswept Farm:

The girls have seven nest boxes to choose from, but this box on the upper story is the big favorite:

And the dogs and cats have continued lounging around on the kitchen floor pillows. In this photo are Clover, Snoozey, Daphne, Seamus and Fergus:

And little Madeline at the foot of the stairs:

Another floor pillow collection of cats and dogs: Seamus, Daphne, Bramble, Clover, Fergus and Snoozey:

Draco decided that he liked Georgette's cat tree at the top of the stairs. That was fine until he tried taking the top nest, Georgette's primary perch. She acquiesced, but I removed him every time I found him there until he decided the second perch might be acceptable after all:

Clover, Fergus, Snoozey and Madeline:

The Red Poll girls became gradually more accustomed to the cold as the winter progressed. Their hair grew thicker, though not much longer. Toward the end of February, I began to notice shed hair on my gloves whenever I'd pet them. I believe the lengthening days have signaled them to begin changing to their summer coats:

I walked out to the hay bale feeder several times each day to fluff it up, exposing fresh hay and removing big, frozen slabs. The girls understand what I'm doing and get all excited, running over to see what delights I will expose for them to eat:

I call the hay bale feeder their salad bar. They spend most of every day there, which is why there are so many photos of the cows in that location:

I was on the tractor when I shot this photo. It shows the cows at their hay bale feeder, and also the barn, the house and the neighbors' barn: