Around The Farm In Winter's Chill

I walked out into the pasture during a snowstorm to tend to the animals, and turned back toward the house and barn to snap this photo:

When I got back inside the house, I hit the "Auto Adjust" button to see how the picture would look - and was surprised by the difference. In my mind, it seems the original was closer to what I actually saw:

Alas, another elderly fantail pigeon died one night. I found her looking as if she'd died in her sleep during the night. I still have 35 birds, so there is no shortage:

Do you remember this poor hen who began molting far too late in the winter?

Our nighttime temperatures were dropping to -9 and she looked miserable without enough feathers to protect her:

So I brought her into the house and put her in a large dog crate, using old feed bags as cage liners:

She's been doing well and growing feathers, but I don't think I'll put her back outside until the temperatures are more moderate. The room she's in is only in the 50s, but even that is far, far warmer than what she'll find back in the chicken coop:

Early in the morning, I photographed Blue, Remy and Jasmine munching hay:

The occasion for the above photo was that I was delivering a new bale to the herd:

Sadly, the hay bales are covered with ice and stuck to each other and to the ground. I had such a hard time getting the last bale out and unwrapped, that I wound up with a big wad of mesh, ice and hay which I had to leave on the ground, where it will wait until a spring thaw before I can separate it and throw the mesh away:

This is the Amish school house, just down the road from me. It didn't appear that anyone was there, despite the parked buggy, when I snapped this picture:

And finally, the fantail pigeons illustrated why it's a bad idea to choose to roost on the bottom shelf: