On The Beaten Path

The donkeys are not the only critters living life in single-file.

It seems that quite a few of our friends are traveling the beaten path these days.

The Nigerian goats are enjoying the trails that we blazed for them after the storm...

and have added a few of their own trails.

As for the chickens...

not a one of them will stray from the main thoroughfare...

often resulting in massive traffic jams!

With the exception of a couple of brave souls,

the guineas are roosting in the chicken house these days.

These two brave rebels spend their nights on top of the yard.

For the past several months, the chickens in this lone henhouse have

only been laying an average of 4 eggs daily....

until the snowstorm.

Ever since they have been "cooped up" they are laying almost a dozen daily.

This leads me to believe that prior to the snowstorm

they were laying elsewhere.

I am thinking that perhaps there is a rather large clutch of eggs 

somewhere in the woods, maybe.

The pond is mostly frozen these days,

with the exception of an area kept fluid by an aerator.

Here is where our 5 domestic ducks spend their days...

along with 6 to 10 wild mallards

(several of which have come to call the pond their permanent home.)

Daytime temperatures have reached the 40's this week...

so the snow is steadily melting.

It will still be a long time before this one is gone, however!