In the beginning were chickens like this??
Yes.
Wild jungle fowl, from which modern chickens are descended, will stop laying in the absence of food or mating efforts, unlike domestic fowl. Only when both are abundant do the eggs start to flow. The diurnal cycle, that is the pull of the seasons you allude to, is critical to egg laying in domestic fowl and I suspect its also so in wild jungle fowl. Although, since they live in the tropics, I imagine it is so to a lesser degree. But, yes, just like wild birds everywhere, it's safe to assume they are seasonal to a great degree.
How did they get them like they are now??.
Make no mistake, domestic hens are subject to cycles, too. They come on like gangbusters in the early-to-late spring, taper off through the summer and come near to a standstill in the winter. After a year there is the molt and laying halts, while the hen rebuilds herself, then laying resumes again in the spring.
What you are really asking for modern poultry keepers is:
"How is laying continued into the winter slowdown?"
Winter laying through the cold seasons is something that has been developed over time in domestic fowl, as mentioned by rooster-red. It is based mostly on temperature and the diurnal cycle and, of course, plentiful and nutritious feed.
A hen will not readily lay if it is cold, since it has to expend too much food energy to keep it's high body temp, around 106 degrees. If you offset this need to keep warm by giving them supplemental heat and/or protection from the elements, you can expect them to put out some eggs because they once again have a surplus of food energy.
However, the diurnal, or light, cycle controls laying more than any other factor. Its no surprise that hens lay fast and furious in the spring when the diurnal cycle is growing longer. As the season goes on and begins to wane, the diurnal cycle begins to shorten, favoring less sunlight. This is what signals the slowdown in yard fowl. To get them to lay well in the winter, you have to do three things:
1. Trick the hen into laying by adding supplemental light to extend the perceived "daytime."
2. Add supplemental heat to allow enough surplus energy to make eggs.
3. Have hens in the right laying phase. In other words, you stagger their growth phases. Todays winter layers were your late spring chicks.
This is one reason why we have a ready supply of eggs in our modern market system, regardless of the season. We control their environments in factory and battery production, so it doesnt matter if it is day or night, winter or summer. Also, we keep only the birds in peak lay, culling the ones who are past their prime time they end up in cans of Campbells Noodle Soup. Fianlly, we have immense cold storage facilites for eggs that can safely keep eggs at Grade - A standard for months.
If eggs aren't scrupulously managed this way, egg production would go back to being a seasonal thing. If that happened, it would actually pay to have your "2nd season flock" laying over through the winter. Winter eggs always command the highest prices when the egg market is seasonal.
Currently, it is just an academic exercise to accomplish winter-managed laying in your flock. For the hobbyist, it will only pay if you have also created a market of buyers dedicated to your eggs, and yours alone.
Do that in our super-market/super-convenience age and you have really accomplished something.
