Stopped laying a week before her first year " Hatchday " What's wrong?

[del gallinero]

I have a flock of four. Had actually. One died last week of a bee sting. Another stopped laying about a week ago also. She is a dominique. She is not acting broody. She's free-ranging and acting normal except for her not laying.


About four weeks ago I started noticing one egg of the four eggs had a very soft shell, and that layer was only laying a couple of times per week. I couldn't determine exactly which chicken was laying that kind of shell. It was between two> the one that died of the bee sting or this dominique. Now that she has stopped laying I am guessing it might have been her. I have plenty of oyster shell out all the time. Everyone else's shells are fine. I don't know if she is laying internally. I tried to check her vent for the first time, but didn't feel anything. She is a big chicken, maybe a little hefty. I read that a fat chicken may stop laying, but it might be her breed. The others are different breeds. How do you put a chicken on a diet? She runs around like the other two and gets exercise. The other two remaining chickens are laying regularly.
I don;t know what to do for her. If she is laying internally that is a bad thing, but what can I do? Could a chicken just be taking a "time-out" from laying without there being a serious problem?

Thanks

 

[sumi]

I'm sorry to hear about your loss. To answer your question, yes, fat hens generally don't lay, but there may be something else wrong here. I've put together a troubleshooting guide for non-layers that may help you figure this out. See here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-behaviours-and-egg-laying-why-are-my-hens-not-laying