Here at Polyface, we live for Dec. 21, not because we're wiccans or druids, but because we have laying chickens.  Assuming diet is adequate, three things affect how well a chicken lays:

 1.  Her age, including where she is on her annual molt cycle.

 2.  Her comfort, including stress, heat, cold.

 3.  The day length.  Hens naturally lay more when days are lengthening; they naturally reduce production when days are shortening.

             Since Dec. 21 is the shortest day of the year (in the Northern Hemisphere) it's the valley of the lay cycle.  Within two weeks we'll see a dramatic increase in egg production as the birds respond to increasing light.

             Some people put artificial lights on the birds during the late fall and early winter in order to trick their hormones into thinking the days are longer.  We would rather the birds go through their natural annual rest cycle to restore their energy reserves.

             Here at Polyface, we handle their comfort by putting them in hoop houses.  Even in the coldest day of winter, or even blizzards, those houses with passive solar gain stay nice and warm.  That's relatively simple.  We can manipulate the age by when we hatch.  A pullet starts laying at about 20 weeks, regardless of season.  So if we get chicks, or hatch chicks, in the spring so their natural lay cycle runs counter to the day length cycle, they don't plummet as far during short days.

             The idea is to not have three strikes.  We can't change the day length, but we can manipulate the other two variables with proper housing and proper timing.   Laying percentage naturally dips until Dec. 21, regardless (unless you put artificial lights on them), but at least we can minimize the valley.

             Because of these factors, every year we count off the days until Dec. 21, knowing that the low production will bottom out that day and then begin to escalate.  By March we're swimming in eggs and that's just the way it is every year.  Welcome to seasonal flows.

             While we don't want to minimize the joy of the Christmas season, for us it's heightened exponentially due to the winter solstice and its affect on the egg flow and therefore the profitability of the laying hen enterprise.  Although we still have the lion's share of the winter ahead of us, critical daylength is already moving life on the farm toward spring.  Life comes early and we're glad to be a part of it.

             When you can't get eggs from your local farmer, what do you do?