HELP!! All 3 of my hens have stopped laying!!!!

[Terim12]

I have 3 hens, a barred rock and 2 buff orpingtons, all just a year old this month. Everything has been going fine and all of the sudden they stopped laying. Occasionally I will find one egg in the nest box but it is few and far between. They are not going through a molt that I can tell. I live in Texas and it is hot! Not sure if that is the issue?? They do not appear to have any health issues that I can tell. I did recently loose one of my girls : ( not sure what happened to her. I was out of town and the person watching them for me found her dead. They were still laying right after this happened though. I am at a loss and not sure what to do. I would appreciate ANY help or suggestions! I am missing my eggs!!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Natural molting begins sometimes after the 4th of July. However egg laying tapers off before that happens. But is it possible that your hens are laying in a hidden location.

Shade is a welcome respite for hens living in Texas, do your hens have any?

 

[aart]

Do they free range?
Any chance a predator is getting into the coop during the day and eating them(snake)?

The heat can definitely reduce production.

 

[Terim12]

Their coop and run are in the shade so they do have shade. My yard isn't fenced so they don't free range so no predator getting it to get eggs. I do let them free range some when I am out there to watch them. The couple of eggs that have been layed since this has happened have been different. The first one was almost white and I have all brown egg layers. The other 2 have been much smaller than normal. Another odd thing is their waste is smelling really bad. My coop usually doesn't smell bad and no matter how often I clean the run it has a very foul odor right now. Not sure if that is related or not.

 

[aart]

What are you feeding, has it changed?

 

[Terim12]

There feeding hasn't changed. I feed them layer pellets and table scraps. I also give them stuff out of my garden. They waste most of their pellets. I am trying to figure out a feeder that won't let them waste so much