text: In reply to message75092: I have 9 chickens and some have stopped for the winter due to molting. Mainly my older chickens stopped for the winter. The ones I got last spring still lay. On average I get 3 eggs a day. There a lot of factors that can cause a chicken to stop laying. I have one that had an abscess on her breast and she stopped laying completely. I have one that is 7 years old and was getting 3 eggs a week from her until winter. You also have to look at the breeds and how much they are supposed to lay a year. After the first year, production diminishes. If you have a chicken that is supposed to lay 330 eggs a year, the amount of years of production will be less than one of a chicken that lays 250 eggs a year. Feed is a big one, if they have a mineral or vitamin deficiency they will stop laying and that is why it’s important to have a good feed. We get feed from a local farm and our shells have been harder than with major brand names along with better production. My wife was just talking about trying to help our ladies out with production and I told her they need to rest in the winter. If you are constantly trying to make them produce eggs, they will burn out and stop laying. My ladies also only get cracked corn in the winter as corn helps keep them warm. It’s like adding wood to a fireplace. My chickens do not get any sort of heat source in the winter because their body temp is much higher than humans and they don’t need any additional warmth.