Two dumb questions about winter laying vs. spring laying

[jalen911]

I know these are dumb questions but-

We've been supplementing with light over the winter and the girls have kept laying, though the eggs are often frozen before we get to them. I'm thinking of just stopping with the light and letting them rest up, even if it means slowing or stopping egg laying until spring.

Before I do that- can I be certain they WILL start laying again in the spring once it warms up? I don't want to let them slow down if it's like human breast milk, where it dries up and then you can't get it restarted. Are they able to just start laying again on their own?

Also, if I do stop with the light and let them slow down for winter, will that prolong their laying a bit as they age? Is it like they have a finite amount of eggs they can lay, so there would be a benefit to stopping over the winter so they can lay more/better when it's warm as they get older?

I just figure, we're getting 2 frozen/cracked and maybe 1 usable egg a day, so it's a waste to keep them laying if I can allow them to slow down and get the benefit of eggs for a longer period as they age. My girls all started laying last November so they are still pretty young (and adorable).

 

[Stacyc]

Yes they have a finite number of eggs, so slowing down in winter will prolong their egg laying days.

No, it's not like breast mike, and they will resume laying. I have three hens that have consistently laid this winter. I have not provided any light nor heat. What really blew my mind this winter was when we had a massive cold snap, like -15f for the day time high and -28f at night I got one egg every day for 6 days in a row.
If you are unable to get to the eggs before they freeze I would give them a break, it's tough to keep laying and using all that protein to generate eggs when they could use their calories to keep warm.
And no, those are not dumb questions.

 

[jalen911]

Thank you very much! I wish I had thought about this before half the winter had passed, we've had so many wasted eggs. I'm going to give the girls a break and keep winters easy on them from now on.