Every six weeks our so, I clean out the chicken coup. Until this week, cleaning the coup had not had any impact on egg production since it was too soon for the still maturing hens to be laying back in October when I last cleaned it out. This week, however, the day after I cleaned the coup, production increased by about 300%. My brood of hens went from laying 1-2 eggs . . . to laying as many as six in a day.
All this made me think about the Hawthorne Effect; a scientific study on the impact of change on productivity. I'll be watching closely to see what happens to productivity in February when it is time to clean out the coup again.
In the meantime, I will be enjoying Eggs Benedict on New Year's day! I hope you have a great New Year's celebration as well.