stoped laying

Two things will happend around this time. One is moulting and the other is less daylight hours so to answer your question yes, they are having a break. They will of course start to lay again once the daylight hours increase.

Yes,not to worry,out of 60 we are only getting 12-16 eggs per day-and I am sure it shall reduce even further!-they still eat very well though

and I thought we were hard done by getting 3 eggs out of 6 hens

My hens have also gone on strike!  I have 2 not old enough yet but the other 3 have only laid 1 egg between them in the last 2 days.  The one who has laid every day since we got her hasn't laid anything in over a week.  Roughly how long does this phase tend to last and is there anything that will encourage them to get going again?  Thanks, Wendy.

Moulting and climate change affect laying.

To improve the rate of lay, you can give vitamins for a cure, in the drinking water.
Put the chickens on a place they always have a maximum of sunshine.
By doing this I have no big drop in egg production during the winter.

Thank you for this great info as I was also worrying about the drop in number of eggs. I am new at this and rely on this site for info.