As far as the light goes, you can put a light on a timer and itll keep them laying. My uncle does that
Absolutely. I worked with breeder hens for 12 years when I was in the commercial poultry industry. Those are the parents of the chicks that get grown out for slaughter. We grew those pullets in "blackout" houses so we could control the day length on them. They were given 8 hours of light until they were moved to the hen house at 20 weeks of age. They went on standard day length for a week or so, then we'd add 30-60 minutes per week until they received 16 hours per day from then on.