Ignore the groundhog. Today I collected 8 eggs from 12 pullets. That’s a surefire prognostication. Spring is just around the corner.

We’re happy about that here.

The air is warm and moist and the ground is frozen and cold. Fog results. The muted world seems cozy and gentle on these mornings.

I read in the newspaper today that all of our snow has blown to Valdez, Alaska, where they’ve had 10 feet snow more than usual. Sorry, guys. Here we are looking towards spring. I’m planning some Chicken Keeping Workshops in April and May and will let you know when the details are finalized. If you live here in Eastern, MA, I’ll be doing a free presentation at my local, Chelmsford, Agway on February 25 at 11. I’ll be talking about starting a backyard flock.

Don’t forget to enter the Backyard Chickens Print Giveaway!

One of the great pleasures of having the HenCam is that I get to connect with such interesting people. Several years ago I heard from a chicken keeper named Jenny Tiffany in Portland, Oregon. It turns out that not only is she a lovely person, but she is also a talented artist. You can find her work at her shop on Etsy. Her prints are colorful, happy, modern and retro, AND some are of chickens.

Jenny has generously agreed to give a print to the winner of this giveaway! All you have to do is go to her site, decide which image is your favorite, and let me know here in the comments. The winner will get the print of their choice.

The Rules in Fine Print: You can have up to 3 entries: (1) Tell me which print is your favorite – you must do it here on this blog and not on Facebook! (2) Let your Facebook friends know about this contest, come back here and tell me you’ve spread the word and you get a second entry. (3) Spread the word on Twitter, let me know here, and you get a third entry.

The contest closes on Saturday morning, February 4 at 10 AM EST.

Good-luck!

Groundhog Day is this week. Supposedly, a hibernating woodchuck wakes up, peeks out of his (why is it always a he?) hole, and if he sees his shadow there’ll be six more weeks of winter.

Around here, we don’t like woodchucks, and we certainly don’t pay attention to their prognostications.

Would you believe an animal that looks like this?

Woodchucks are foul-tempered rodents which destroy fields, mow down vegetables, and are truly stupid. (Yes, stupid. Years ago an entire family marched, one-by-one, up to my dog, who dispatched them all.)

Or would you believe Tina?

Tina, who took a long molting and winter break from laying, left this in the box last week, and has laid an egg, almost daily, since.

Around here, that’s a sure sign of spring.

Perhaps, though, you’d like a harbinger of spring that is prettier than either the woodchuck or Tina. Will this do?

The bluebirds have returned. They’ve been checking out the nesting boxes in the meadow.

Of course, here in New England, you don’t count your daffodils until they’ve bloomed. A few major snowstorms could still blow through. But, right now, I’m thinking that I’ll be able to get my cool-weather greens and peas in by April first. Meanwhile, it’s time to get the shedding blade out and go groom the goats.

It’s 40º F and sunny. Around here, a mild day this time of year is called The January Thaw. Usually, it’s a brief respite in the middle of a cold, dark and icy winter and is much appreciated. But, so far this year it seems as if winter never arrived, we’ve skipped two months, and are into the tail-end of March and the start of springtime. It’s confusing everyone.

At noon today I let the goats and chickens out onto the squishy, half-dead, yet oddly green lawn. The old girls stood in the sun. Betsy preened.

The Gems went further afield.

The goats found green brambles under the grass.

But, even better than the edibles was this scratching post.

The goats are shedding. Already. Their winter garb has two layers: a fuzzy and thick undercoat, and a long, dense top coat. They’ve been carrying this around for months now. It’s hot. It’s itchy. They want it gone. There are at least six more weeks of winter. According to the record-keepers, February is our snowiest month. The boys have a lot of fur. Even if they lose some of it now, they’ll be warm enough if the weather turns. Still, I’m not ready for handfuls of goat hair everywhere. Besides, the birds who collect it for their nests haven’t even arrived yet.

The only animals not confused are the fish. The pond is in the shade and remains frozen.

This is a relief. The koi need to stay slumbering until spring. Sweet dreams, Beast.

Note- tomorrow I’m off to a 3-day writer’s workshop and it will be difficult to do email.