Constipation, internal laying...?

[charlotte-and-the-bees]

Ughhh the saga with one of our hens continues. Of course the favorite. She was laying soft-shell eggs for several months, took her to the vet and they didn't see anything apparently wrong but started her on antibiotics due to elevated lymphocytes. Finished the course and at the same time started molting, so she hasn't been laying at all. She's just wrapping up getting the new feathers back in and occasionally over the past couple of weeks, I've noticed her squat randomly and start shaking her butt like she's egg bound, sometimes she'll poop sometimes nothing, and then go back to being completely normal. No behavioral abnormalities otherwise. She has normal/consistent stool under where she roosts at night.

I just witnessed her doing this but waggle and nothing came out. I got nervous that she might be internally laying soft shells and felt her abdomen + felt a few of the other ladies in comparison. Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary that I can tell, feels exactly the same - not swollen, not hard, not overly soft. Her vent looks good too.

Is it possible that she's constipated? Or is this type of movement pretty much just consistent with eggbinding or internal laying?

 

[Eggcessive]

Can you insert a clean or gloved finger into her vent 2 inches to check for a stuck egg or obstruction? Are you feeding layer feed and putting out crushed oyster shell? It could be that she is going to start laying again soon, or she may be laying internally. I don’t know how you can tell other than to wait, or see a vet.