A lot of posts recently about reduced egg production and moderately early molts. I've dropped from 18+ eggs per day to just 8 or 9, and my oldest layers are just 14 months, three weeks old. They started slow molting weeks ago.
1.5 years old is more typical range for start of molt, and if they are slow molting, you may see reduced egg production for some time. Heat stress can also negatively impact laying - but your temps aren't particularly unusual (nor are mine) this summer, unlike the West Coast, and part of the North of this nation.
Now it may be that people aren't reporting the normal, expected, 18 month in fall type molts, and that's why the recent raft of threads seem disproportionate - or there may be lots of new backyard chicken owners courtesy pandemic flocks of egg layers who are experiencing first molt and seeking reassurance - or there may be some other cause entirely... Hells, I may be suffering confirmation bias in my readings.
But if the birds are otherwise healthy, and the only symptom is reduced lay in 18 mo old birds in the current heat, I'd chalk it up to molt and continue to monitor, but not worry. If you feed them 15% or 16% layer, I'd consider adding supplemental protein or swapping to an 18%+ All Flock/Flock Raiser, which is said to ease molting by providing additional nutrients for feather replacement. But if you are already feeding 18%+ (as I am), a dietary change would not seem to be warranted at this time.
^^^take the above with a grain of salt - I have more birds than the typical, but am still quite new to this, learning by reading, doing, and by reading about what others are doing (successfully or otherwise).
But at least, as a collective, we are still in the "
no one ever sends me anything
