Handsome rooster and a polar dip!

I actually had my good Nikon camera in my hand today when I went down to the lower barn and saw this...

McGuinty, our Chantecler rooster, bathed in late-afternoon sun.

Isn't he beautiful? And a very nice, mellow rooster. He's the fellow I won at the rooster crowing contest last summer. I would like to get some Chantecler hens sometime.

And we've been in the midst of a January thaw, but now the temps are going back down and we are supposed to get more snow this weekend. I'm glad we still have a good snow cover on the ground...

That's Sophie on the lower right!

Tristan went into the duckyard on the weekend.

So did the ducks. And a couple went over the fence, so I had to retrieve them. Muscovy ducks are tropical birds and can get frostbite if it's too cold, so I only let them out when the temps are at or above freezing. Last year I thought they had the sense to come in out of the cold, but a couple of the boys ended up with frostbitten caruncles (fleshy red skin around their beak and face) so this year I'm being more careful. Fortunately the frostbitten parts healed with time.

And there's Karène the adventure duck!

Meanwhile, Jimette decided she'd like a bath (it was about 5C on the weekend, plenty warm for a dip!)

The ducks are so well-feathered, they really don't seem to mind a polar swim!

Everybody...

...into...

...the pool!

And a good old splish-splash! I filled these containers several times over the weekend. The ducks are very enthusiastic bathers, and usually empty out most of the water with their splashing around.

No more baths for a while. The temperatures are about to plunge. By Monday, the high is supposed to be -16C/3F and the low -22C/-7F. Too cold for the ducks and chickens to play outside, but they have the whole lower barn to run around in during the daytime in winter.

Stay warm out there!