What's Happening Around The Farm - An Update

The fantail pigeons have weathered the cold with ease:

And they're looking good:

One pair hatched two chicks in the very coldest part of an unusually cold winter. One squab died, but the other was growing nicely until the parents stopped covering it at night. Then it got too cold and died. I had feared this would happen, so had steeled myself:

The snow built up around the stock tank, making it appear much shorter than it is. I add water every evening before dark and use a fishnet to clean out any hay or other particles. Alas, one evening the water was so dirty that I could only conclude it had been pooped in. I had to bail the water out with a 5 gallon pail, hauling each bucket away to dump it. Then I refilled the stock tank, using the fishnet to catch as much remaining debris as possible. It was looking better when I finished and will improve each time I add more water:

A flock of lovely Redpolls (the bird, not the cattle) appeared at my feeder from up north. They were lively, colorful and lots of fun. Hit the link to see a photo and learn more about them):

The problem with the Redpolls was that they threw seed all over the ground. I would have expected it to all get eaten anyway, but it wasn't:

Our cold winter nights were hard on everyone. Strong winds drove the snow right through the weather stripping on the chicken's trap door:

But the chickens just kept away from the door and were fine:

A neighbor let his horses go without hay, so I threw some into the bucket of the tractor and dumped it over the fence for them:

Other neighbors, a young couple with three young boys, attached a sleigh to their snowmobile so the whole family could ride together: