I'm in the middle of the US, and there's several inches of snow on the ground atm. I kind of figured they'd need help in the winter. To be honest, I don't really know what they eat- I know they eat, "bugs and stuff", lol! So, for someone in the midwest, is it possible, with the exception of winter for 3-4 chickens to find enough food to survive on (and produce eggs) 1/2 an acre for the majority of the year? We have a weedy lawn, there's violets, and dandelions, and clover, and grass, and bugs galore.
ETA: The farm where we get our milk has feed and water at the coops, and then the hens are allowed to free range. And our "chicken lady" does the same thing. Her farm is biodynamic, and when I asked about variation in yolk color she told me it depended on how adventurous the hen was- adventurous ranging ones will eat more weeds and bugs and have darker yolks. Homebodies will eat feed and have yellow yolks. So I'm guessing the setup is similar.