From an email. Hah hah hah!
Update: I didn’t realize the graphic didn’t publish. That’s my internet situation right now… So, here’s another try:
Great timing, as I thought that this is what my chickens might be up to on the sly. I think only one is laying now. The rest are looking terribly, terribly haggard and old. Their clipped beaks don’t help matters. Anyone know where I might get some, hopefully local, non-debeaked pullets or chicks. I know this is not quite the time of year, but, hey, that’s how things are.
And here the neighbor kept telling me that the reason why chickens cross the road is to show the possums that it can be done. Hah!
Accompany me, Father George David Byers, S.S.L., S.T.D., as I begin life as a Catholic Priest-Hermit by choice. Holy Souls Hermitage is dedicated to the sanctification of my fellow priests, bishops, deacons & seminarians going through the purgatory of this life or the next. Prayer and sacrifice go up, of course, for both Benedict XVI and the next Successor of Saint Peter. 
Your hens, if they’re ragged, are probably starting to molt. It’s also the time of year, when the days start to shorten, that they slow down laying. We keep a light on all night in the coop; and it’s not because they need a night light. It’s to keep them laying. If your hens are that old, you need to freshen your flock with some young pullets. I’ll say a prayer to St. Brigid, of Ireland; she’s the patron saint of chicken farmers.
The neighbor keeps a light on just until 9:00 PM to mimick summer. I think he’s got it on a timer. I don’t have a light at all.
Speaking of lights, I heard that bright white makes them aggravated and gets them fighting and eating the eggs. I don’t know if a soft-white or even yellow light would be good…