chicken in the winter?

[chick_magnet]

I bought my chicks may 11. the person i bought it from said they were about 1.5 weeks old. Would they be able to lay some eggs before winter? I know hens need certain amount of sunlight to lay. Also when winter does come, what should I feed them? I'm feeding them starter right now. I was going to switch them to scratch during the winter but read online somewhere that scratch doesnt have enough nutrient for a complete diet. I was also think layer pullet but i don't want feed them that if they are not going to be able to lay eggs. Please help this is my first time raising chicks.
Thank you
Ps i live in Tennessee

 

[Thomas423]

They should start laying around October. If your coop set-up allows it, you could put a light in there for the evening hours during the winter. We put a dimmer switch on the outside of the coop. We turn the light on before it gets dark and start the dimming process around 9pm each evening.

Welcome to BYC

 

[elmo]

Whether your chickens will lay before winter depends on their breed, their nutrition, and to some extent on the individual birds. My bantams all hatched out in late May/early June last spring, and all began laying in October.

You feed chicks specially formulated chicken feed made for the nutritional needs of growing chicks. You keep your chicks on this feed until they start to lay, then switch them over to layer feed that is forumulated for laying hens with additional calcium and lower protein. You're right: "scratch" isn't nutritionally sufficient.

It's pretty simple, really.