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Considering that the hen was a sex link, a high production hen, could very well be that she had egg yolk peritionitis or was laying internally or had impacted oviduct, all of which are related and could be interchangeable terms in that there is no cure. It's a chronic condition with these hatchery hens. Chicken hens are the only animal on the planet who get spontaneous ovarian tumors like human women. I just lost one who had a large fibroid mass blocking her oviduct, not a classic internal layer, but same outward appearance/downhill slide and outcome. Nothing to be done.
Egg binding is not the same as internal laying--egg bound means there is an actual egg blocking the oviduct that may be in a bad position or too large to pass and you can sometimes maneuver that out of the hen yourself. Internal laying is not anything you can fix.
You know, considering she was a high production hen, we were just talking about how she never really got up to speed on laying. At her best, she'd lay 2 in a row and take a day off. Sometimes only a day in a row. Then, at the same time she turned lethargic, she stopped laying. Or she might have stopped laying a day prior. Would the poor laying for her breed have signaled an issue? Or just coincidence...
It really could have been a sign of bad things to come, yes. Or could have just been coincidence. It's impossible to say without a look inside.
