Dominant hens not laying. Is this normal?

[debelsey]

I have a 3 yr old hen who is dominant and I don't think has ever laid an egg. I now have a 1 year old hen who is getting aggressive and is either not laying or doing a good job of hiding them. She was very reliable until recently. Do dominant hens not lay? I keep threatening them with the chicken soup solution, but my husband has saved them up until now. Would the hatching of another hen's clutch influence her to not lay? I wouldn't think so. The 1 year old is very mean to Mama's 2 moth old chickletts and if she's not laying, well...

 

[GitaBooks]

If you don't have a rooster, one hen will often take over the leadership roll and will often stop laying. I'm not sure why the other one would stop, however. Is there a chance they are eating their own eggs? Mine do that.