Hen with some laying issues... please help!

[JacP]

I’m needing help.. I think... step by step. I have never had hens before... & I have never had hen issues... with the 11 I do have.
But Now... the hen I call Mama..(cuz she is so bossy)
She lays about 3-4 eggs a week, I can tell the time by her egg song! The other day she was signing away, when I went down to the coop no egg...?? hmmm...
No egg all week... but she has been very busy free ranging the past few days.. cleaning the garden of all bugs & bossing all the pullets around
This afternoon I was thinking... she should lay today... I was out working a horse & she was singing away.. YES an egg!!!... she came out of the hen house & I walked over to look... hmmm no egg??
She hopped up into a horse feeder & sang away... no egg.... she is prancing around.. Scowling at everybody around here... not 1 other hen wants to be around her... the scamper out of her way.
I have now locked her in the coop & she is kicking up quite a fuss about that... pacing back & forth her bum feathers are big & puffy.. she looks like she has an egg to lay, & her loud “gwak, gwak... GWAAAK.. kinda have her Huffing... or panting” Make any sense?
Is she egg bound? How do I tell if she is? She doesn’t like to be handled.. at all the thought of bathing her in warm water makes me cringe. What do I do?
Is she starting to go broody?
PLEASE... step by step info on what I need to look for/at & where to begin! I don’t want this to go south...

 

[CMV]

If she was eggbound she would be walking very oddly. You would notice it immediately. She would also be in obvious discomfort with her tail pointing downward, waddling slowly like a penguin.

If she is broody she would be puffed up like a blowfish with her feathers all sticking up and out. She would be making growling noises and be parked on a nest without moving. Her comb would be pale pink instead of bright red.

Does either one sound like what she is going through?

 

[JacP]

Nope. ??? I don't know if I should be happy or confused?
What the heck?

Ok... so why all the egg songs.. going into the nest(s) all the 'show' & no egg... What is that all about?

I picked her up yesterday much to her distain... I could see not a thing wrong with her... no red vent..I couldnt feel an egg (exterior)

Is this a see what happens kinda thing?

 

[CMV]

I think so. The "egg song" is not always just about eggs. Sometimes they just get a bee in their bonnets and will cackle like crazy ladies. I don't know what to tell you other than that.

Good luck.