posted 8 years ago
Honestly, no matter what I do, egg production goes down greatly in winter for me, and so I don't take any egg subscribers until spring. I find that individual hens may chug through winter, still laying intermittently, but most do not. I've had the three of the breeds that you have, at one time or another, and this has held true with all of them.
I do find them more likely to lay more on warmer winter days, and on days when they go outside for exercise. I also have pullets hatched out at the beginning of July, just coming in to lay now, and they are the ones laying, in spite of the season. Around the beginning of February, when we aren't in mountain shadow so much, that's when I notice more laying. The chickens seem to appreciate real sunlight, rather than truly warm weather, but it needs to be above -20C/-4F, or they will not lay at all.