Light up the Night

I can tell winter is coming just by my hens' laying this week:

Thu: 4 eggs
Fri: 2 eggs
Sat: 0 eggs
Sun: 0 eggs

Or lack thereof. All of a sudden, the length of day is just a few minutes shy of what their bodies need to indicate a good laying season. It's an excellent natural safeguard against raising chicks in the midst of winter. I can't blame them. But I'm a very selfish farmer and I hate taking care of chickens that aren't producing food for me.

Fortunately for this selfish farmer, it's easy to "trick" the hens' metabolisms  to lay through the winter. All you need is a 60-watt light bulb. Or, in my case, a 13-watt CFL that produces as much light as a 100-watt light bulb. I installed it this afternoon at the top of their pen. The extension cord from my patio to the back corner of our yard is a little awkward, but it's good enough for now. I want to see if I can get them to start laying again before I work on aesthetics and lawn mowing issues :)