<<If the chickens actually did require 14 hours of daylight, I would have just over two weeks of production each year. If it just influences egg production, I would have a peak in June, not November. >>
I'd hazard the guess that the passive solar heating from the winter sunlight helps keep them laying--assuming the hen house has good windows. (Anyone else remember reading "Beautiful Joe" as a kid? Laura's aunt telling her about the difference between her hen house with its big southern windows, and her mother's biddies who would stop laying entirely in the winter in their dark coop?)
I'd also wonder if an incandescent bulb in a coop might add just enough heat to help keep the chickens happy.
And thinking of *that*... I wonder if we'd all better lay in a few incandescent bulbs while we can still get them--to use for brooding chicks. Wonder what will be available besides infrared bulbs in a few years--no idea what those might cost.
Rhonda
Sidesaddle Hall of Famer
Five-time US National Sidesaddle Champion
ASA Instructor
CHICKENS-101@yahoogroups.com
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