Hi, we live in the interior of Alaska and have kept chickens for 6 years. We started with an established flock given to us by a friend. We finished enclosing our kids old playhouse to use as a coop. It is insulated and in the winter we use a 250 watt heat lamp plus a standard white light to encourage them to continue to lay during the winter months. My husband rigged up a light bulb under a shelf and the waterer sits on top and we turn the light on and off as needed to keep the water from freezing in the winter.
Our initial flock of 5 banty hens and a rooster slowly died off and this last spring we got full sized hens. 3 Buff Orpinton,3 Ameraucana and 2 Wyandottes. They are doing well and started laying eggs right about 5 months. The old banty rooster kept an eye on things until recently when we found him dead in the coop. He was somewhere between 8-10 years old so I guess it was his time. We will miss seeing this little banty strutting amongst the big hens though.
With the larger flock and the large eggs I have started selling the extra eggs locally. We live in a rural area with the nearest store 20 miles away so the eggs don't sit around long before they are sold.
I wouldn't mind hearing from folks that sell eggs on a small scale.
I will post photos when I figure out how to do that.