Hens have stopped laying.. help?

[Megismeg]

My hens are 10 months old and stopped laying about 2 weeks ago. We did lose a hen about the time they stopped laying, so I assumed the stress from that and the heat (I live in dallas) contributed to it. After looking up some other possibilities, I saw that mites/lice can cause them to stop. I checked them today and noticed that one of them was missing some feathers on her chest but all the others look fine. I’ll add pictures of a couple of their vents and my ones chest to get some advice.

 

[FrostRanger]

Looks like they might be molting. It's about time for it and they won't lay while they're molting. I'd switch to an all flock (keep oyster shell on the side) for the time being if you don't feed it already (since they don't need the extra calcium in layer rn but do need the extra protein that all flock typically has) and wait for them to finish molting

 

[Megismeg]

Looks like they might be molting. It's about time for it and they won't lay while they're molting. I'd switch to an all flock (keep oyster shell on the side) for the time being if you don't feed it already (since they don't need the extra calcium in layer rn but do need the extra protein that all flock typically has) and wait for them to finish molting

Thank you for the help! How long does molting last? Besides the food, is there anything else I should be doing?

 

[RollinWithTheStones]

I'm in NY/PA area and our flock of 14 has only been giving us 3-5 eggs a day. They're molting a lot. Figures once the heat broke and I was expecting more eggs they decided to molt. LOL.

 

[FrostRanger]

Thank you for the help! How long does molting last? Besides the food, is there anything else I should be doing?

Depends, but at least a few weeks. They may not pick back up until spring as we are heading into winter though. Chickens lay less in winter due to the shorter days. Nothing else you need to do but adjust their diet