Acts like she wants to lay an egg, then nothing happens

[azygous]

Every day now for the past few weeks, Morgan, my three-year old Cochin, fretfully mutters just like she really, REALLY wants to lay an egg. I know the language because she's always done this before she lays. But lately, nothing comes of it, even after I help her into a nest box.

She quit laying at the end of summer, long before the others did prior to molt. She is now squatting when I come up behind her with my hands, but her comb doesn't appear especially red.

This morning she got a 30 minute warm water soak, then she dried out on a heating pad for another hour. No egg.

She's back in the run now with the others, acting normal, no fussy muttering. It's noon, and she usually quiets down every day by this time. But tomorrow morning, I know she'll be pacing and muttering again.

What do you suppose is going on here? Is she just working up to egg laying again after molt? Or am I to start worrying about something more serious?

Here's Morgan in her "hot" tub.

 

[donrae]

From that comb, there aren't any eggs on the horizon, so I wouldn't worry about being egg bound or anything else. It may just be a learned behavior. As long as she's acting normally elsewise, I wouldn't fret over it.

 

[azygous]

Thanks so much for the reassurance! I'll try to ignore her melodrama!

 

[azygous]

She wasn't crying wolf after all! This morning Morgan climbed into the nest box, intent with resolve, and she produced this! She's the only Cochin in the flock, so I know with certainty it's hers. That it took her several weeks of trying, still has me a bit concerned. She won the prize for first egg from the flock laid after fall molt.

 

[donrae]

Have your cochins always laid such dark eggs? Mine lay a cream colored egg.

 

[azygous]

Morgan is the only Cochin hen I've ever had, and she's always laid this distinctive dark egg. All my other hens lay much lighter colored eggs or blues and greens. And those are traces of her fine, black rump feathers on the egg shell. Besides, she was the only hen that has gone any where near a nest box since fall molt began.

I wonder if it's simply a coincidence or if she actually benefited from the spa treatment yesterday.