It’s a well-known fact that chickens lay more eggs when you give them more light. That’s why most battery farms and barn-based operations keep the lights on for much of the night.

The first time we noticed this in practice was the first time the chickens experienced snow. The reflected light made everything brighter and someone laid an extra egg, giving us four rather than the regular three.

Now that another month has passed we can start making meaningful comparisons over the course of 2009, and things took a decided turn for the better through March.

That’s a massive leap for March. If we’d wanted an extra 20 eggs during February, we’d have had to buy an extra hen, which explains why egg prices fluctuate over time. My grandmother – the one without the chicken farm – used to stock up on eggs through the summer and keep them in aspic in a large tin bath out in the scullery for use during the winter.

Fortunately such measures aren’t necessary any more as egg production is done on such a grand scale that the fluctuations are no longer so severe, but for home flock-keepers like us, with only two or three birds to look after, the longer days couldn’t come soon enough.

Related posts:

1. Eggs for September
2. June egg count
3. A monster month for eggs