The Return of Eggs

 Last year my first group of chickens started laying right after the winter solstice--January 2.  I've read elsewhere that the trend of day length matters as much (or more than) the day length itself.  Charting my birds' production this year reveals that their peak was actually in late May, a month before the summer solstice.  Then they slowly declined throughout the summer, still producing at 80% of their max as late as the end of August.  Shortly after the fall equinox I sold off the "Reluctant Egg Layers" (and brought in the Delawares), and the remaining layers went into molt, shutting down completely in early November.

Then in late December, actually a couple of days before the winter solstice, I got the first egg.  For the first week, I think it was just one chicken that had rebooted, because I found three eggs, all the same size and shape.  Now there may be a couple of them going.  It looks like I will end up with about eight eggs the last two weeks of December to finish out the year.  The Delawares may come online in late February or early March. Hope springs anew!