By the way, when I probe, I can generally get my middle finger all the way in. I'm female with average size hands but long fingers. I wanted to give you some idea how far in you should be able to probe in there. If she's got something in there, if she's anything like the hen I have right now that's egg binding with the soft shells, she'll probably begin to push when you're doing it.
Hopefully your hen is larger sized. Sometimes it can be painful if they're small or they're swelled up with peritonitis (in which case, you may as well forget probing because it'll be swelled shut tighter than a vice so probing is not a good idea at all).
When you probe, do you feel anything in the form of a mound? Because that's what a complete soft shell felt like in mine, I hardly recognized it as an egg at first. Also, it was lower than I expected. Of course it's wrapped in tissue so it feels like an organ or just a fold (or who knows what). If you feel something like that, see if you can work around that, see if you can move it a little or come up behind (you're looking for an opening in there).
She might squeeze down, if you feel something rough, or completely unlike the soft tissue everywhere else, that going to be your shell less egg. You'll want to work some lubricant around that rough surface.
When you go straight in, feel around the perimeter when you are at the maximum depth even if there is no mound. I remember with the first shell that was broken, it was kind of like finding a folded contact lense underneath an eyelid (which of course you can't do yourself but just imagine). If I go straight in I poke my eye, but if I go around, I can go in much farther. Same thing, reach in and go around sort of like you would if you can imagine probing for a contact trapped underneath your eyelid.
Same thing, rough surface of a flatened shell less egg. It can slide around and "get lost" in there again. I know I had to feel for it and pull it toward me with my finger as my hen pushed. I had to find it 2-3 times before I finally dragged it out. Remember, there's a pathway in there but it may be all bunched up. Moving around and the hen pushing will reveal that pathway.
Hopefully she'll still respect you in the morning
And hopefully you'll get your egg (or shell) and she'll feel better. I can tell you that just a soft collapsed shell made a world of difference to my hen. Perfectly healthy to just going down the tubes fast.
