The first year the birds will go through several molts. Sometimes they will lay then suddenly stop for awhile. It happens. They will start up again and will lay good. Some breeds do tend to start laying later than others. I have some heritage breeds that don't start laying until they are around 8/9 months old. They are just starting to lay now. Some of my others have been laying for awhile. My older birds aren't laying well and I get an some eggs from them now and then. I do get eggs every day but I have a lot of birds. In the spring they will lay. I will have eggs galore then. I don't know how important light is. Years ago I had lights in every coop on a timer. My timer died but I just left the lights on. They are rather dim LED lights. They are 1 watt each but put out light equivalent to 11 watts each. I have one light in each coop. They stay on 24/7/365. The birds don't seem to be laying any differently. Maybe it's not bright enough to really affect them. I have a friend who raises Sebrights for show. His birds usually stop laying in the winters here. Come spring all of the birds will start laying well. At least here they do.