hens on strike, did some union goon subvert my flock?

[f100mike]

We have a tiny flock of tiny chickens. One OEG roo, one OEG hen, and two Mille Fluer hens. One of the MF hens is younger, hatched March 29th. I'm unsure if she's started laying yet, although she's certainly old enough, however she's at the bottom of the order, so the other two hens may not be letting her rest long enough to produce yet, as they take every opportunity to have a peck at her, even though they've been somewhat acclimated for over two months. The older MF got broody in July, and we let her go for 24 days until we were sure that either the eggs were barren, or we saw her off the nest more than on. After that, we began getting one egg per day, sometimes two, but mostly one for about three weeks. Now egg production has completely ceased, even though from time to time we still hear the "I just laid an egg" cackle/strut.

Is it time for me to install the heat lamp in the roost to spur production? That worked great last winter when they stopped laying, but it was cold, hasn't been cold yet, but the days are much shorter.

Advice?

 

[Judy]

I've never heard of providing heat for egg production. I suspect either the light from the heat lamp helped egg production or they just started back on their own.