There are many reasons to have chickens in your own backyard: they’re fun to watch, they bring us closer to nature and, like vegetable gardening, there is accomplishment in gathering food from your own backyard.

You will enjoy your chickens even more if you know this simple trick that will give you fresh eggs for breakfast all year long. Certain conditions need to be met in order to maximize egg production. There are factors related to overall health such as quality of feed and the hen’s weight. even more, the number of hours that light is available is a predictor for quantity of eggs.

Typically your chickens will begin laying eggs between the twentieth and twenty-first week. they will continue to lay eggs for slightly over a year. the number of eggs and their size will be best during this time.

You can optimize both the health of your laying hens and the quality of the eggs that they produce by assuring that appropriate light is provided. Egg production is stimulated by daylight. This means that as the days grow longer, production will increase. Most of us will see a natural increase in egg production from December 21 through June 21 and a slow tapering between June 21 and December 21.

If you ensure that the chicken coop house that you build has electricity brought to it you can provide light during the decreasing daylight days. then you won’t have to suffer with fewer eggs now that you’ve come to enjoy them so much. as the days shorten, turn on the light in the coop house, keeping the total number of lighted hours to 16 or 17 hours. it is best to do this incrementally, supplementing the gradually shortening days as the natural sunlight disappears. doing this may increase the egg production by 20 to 30 percent over the results without the light supplement. the rule of thumb is: never increase light on growing birds, but never decrease light on mature laying hens.

Here are some guidelines for a good lighting program:

1. the proper length of time every day.2. a minimum intensity.3. the proper color.

We’ve already said that the optimum number of hours that the laying hens should have light is between 16 and 17 hours per day. Additionally, the brightness of the light should be sufficient to clearly see the level of the feed while standing over the feeder. the best color of light is a yellow or orange tone. This is easily found when using incandescent bulbs. Alternately, warm-white fluorescent tubes may be used or a halogen light that produces a yellowish colored light.

A well designed chicken coop house will make it easy for you to provide all the conditions to keep your hens happy and healthy. Lighting is one of the primary ways to keep eggs coming your way. other factors in health that are aided by a quality chicken coop design are: protection from theft, predation, direct constant sunlight, rain, excessive wind, heat and cold, sudden temperature changes and excessive dust. For your added enjoyment, the inside of the chicken coop house should be arranged so that feeding and caring for your chickens is easy and safe. a quality chicken house plan that is easy to follow and build will provide a firm foundation for enjoying your chickens.