I feel them VERY clearly in the 3-4 weeks leading up to ovulation. The follicles turn into eggs and begin shelling shortly after ovulation, so they are already HUGE---usually 40mm across---in the days right before ovulation. They feel like golf balls, or even large-ish plums inside her. They're hard to miss. I was able to count the exact number of eggs for all five of my clutches two months before they were laid, and the counts were spot-on in all cases.
And then, immediately AFTER ovulation, I can't feel them anymore. It's totally bizarre, that objects that size could suddenly be hidden. But apparently the muscles around the oviduct really protect them.
Most females don't do a reliable pre-ovy shed. My Lois does do one, and then she skips her pre-lay shed... but usually the pre-lay shed is what you set your calendar by. The pre-ovy and pre-lay sheds don't really affect what you feel for palpating very much. There are increasingly LARGE things in there right up to ovulation.... and then there's nothing, and even the visible bulge in her middle kind of disappears. You start to wonder if your female somehow faked it. But that disappearance was ovulation.
(And then you come home and find Lois is sitting on eggs a full week before you expected them, and you have to run around looking for vermiculite and tubs.)
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