Do chickens eat more during their egg production period?

is it at a certain age that they stop laying in winter ? I got an egg a day from each of them all winter... and I am in WINTER, I am in northern Canada
I saw some people say that they still got eggs from their hens even during winter, just much less. I didn’t get any, though it may have been due to molting.
 
for stupid reasons in the beginning I kept thinking they would only lay monday-friday and take the weekends off. It was overwhelming. At the time I couldn't give them away fast enough, kept having batches in the fridge. But now I have so many people who want them that my husband has to say 'no' so that we can have pancakes on weekends... my mistake, I started giving them away for free, now I have too many people who think feed is free and they are doing me a favor taking them away.
 
do chickens eat more during egg production?
Yes, sort of.
Chickens eat more when growing, when molting, and when laying eggs.
When they are not doing any of those things, they eat less.

I always saw some leftover food in the bowl during winter, but towards spring, all I see is a bit of powder from the crumble.
In that case, you should probably start providing more feed for them. Chickens will typically eat the right amount of food, if it is always available.

is it at a certain age that they stop laying in winter ? I got an egg a day from each of them all winter... and I am in WINTER, I am in northern Canada
It depends on the breed, and on their exact age, and on how many hours of light they are getting. And probably a few other factors as well, just to keep us confused :D

--If you provide supplemental light, most of the common breeds will lay in winter
--If they grow up enough to start laying before the days get short, many breeds will keep laying through their first winter, even without extra light
--Hens that are over a year old will usually stop laying and molt in the fall, after which some will start laying again while others will not lay again until the days get longer in the spring.
--Some chickens seem able to lay with less hours of light than others, even if they are the same age. This is especially noticeable if they are starting to lay as the days get longer in the spring, because some will start weeks or even months before others. This happens even if they were all laying the previous year, so it's not just some breeds starting to lay at a younger age.
 

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