Confused about my flock and all of a sudden no eggs?!

[annmarie33]

My flock is down to 3 right now- 2 hens and a rooster. All the others slowly got eaten by dogs or Hawks. We have 18 new chicks we are waiting to get feathered and building a bigger and better coop at add to the lonely 3. My two hens are almost 7 months old. One is a black laced Cochin and the other a Rhode Island red. Very different personalities. My Cochin went broody around 3 weeks ago and will hopefully hatch her eggs in a week or so. With the 2 young hens I was getting around 12 eggs a week all in the coop. So I know they can't all be from the Cochin. The cochin started making strange noises before she went full on broody in the coop and would be in there a few hours a day at first and Red would kinda go see what she was doing and the next day there was an egg right outside of the coop. I assumed it was Reds and she didn't feel comfortable with the broody hen to lay in the coop. This is the last egg I've seen in over 2 weeks! I've searched and searched and nothing!! I keep thinking there has to be a nest somewhere but is it possible she stopped laying? Or is just randomly laying them by themselves scattered? Still you would think I could find them- they are free range but they have a routine and I know everywhere they go.
Yesterday for the first time she was sitting in her nest box where she used to lay with the broody for almost 2 hours and she didn't lay anything!! Maybe she just misses her sister

Can anyone help me figure out what is going on?
Also I hope they all are nice and accept the new chicks!!

 

[donrae]

Have you been checking under the Cochin to see if the Red has been donating eggs to her nest?

 

[annmarie33]

Yes but not yesterday actually. But even then it would only be that one time.

 

[Zgm12]

She could be going through a molt. Hens usually molt in fall and because of that don't lay eggs. Is she shedding a lot of her feathers?

 

[annmarie33]

No. She actually is looking fuller then normal. She was always the runt. She's only 7 months and was laying for around 6 weeks before this. I'm still hoping I find a nest

 

[donrae]

Having the other hen setting may have disrupted where she lays. Can you confine her for a few days, or not let her out to range until the afternoon? Most birds lay in the am, so that would keep her cooped until after she (hopefully) lays.