Hen has stopped laying (why?)

[allquackedup]

We are new to chicken raising and have lots of questions about them. We got 3 RIR hens and 1 RIR rooster. They are 26wks old. all hens had started laying an egg a day. We then got the bright idea to see if they would hatch out their eggs. They were sharing the nest laying eggs. We let eggs accumilate but got reading the forum and found out RIRs aren't known for going broody. We removed the eggs and started incubating. Now however we are only getting two eggs a day. Did we mess up a hen by leaving the eggs in for a period. We never saw a sitting hen. Did we cause this hen to stop laying. Thanks for any input.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

It may be that there wanting to sit or it might be the time of year. They may even be molting.

 

[cmom]

I have RIRs and for the past couple of weeks my egg count has been way low. I have been getting a dozen to 1½ dozen a day. Lately I've been only getting a half doz. One girl is molting and another was trying to go broody. My Broody isn't being broody any more but she hasn't started laying again yet. It has been very hot here in the low to mid 90's every day. I am thinking maybe why they haven't been laying well is because of the heat. Their coop and run are shaded.