Do chickens sop laying in the winter?

[americana-lover]

Hi! I was just wondering is if chickens stop laying in the winter. My girls havent laied a single egg since they started to molt, and now it winter. Any ideas? They are very healthy, and were hatched April 2010, so they are too young to stop laying, right?

Thanks!

 

[Den in Penn]

The one word reply is, yes. As the days get shorter they will slow down and the lighter laying breeds will stop. When they molt they stop or slow down laying until they recover from the molt and have rebuilt their bodies. If the molt has taken place late in the year with its shorter days they will not lay again until the days start to get noticeably longer, late January or February.