Can anyone help me with my mystery egg!

[Thebarter]

I bought some 15 month old ISA browns off a lady just over a week ago ( she had many other chickens and Cockerells) they have been laying lovely eggs most days, but today I found the weirdest looking egg in their nesting box. It's almost like rubber, it's not a hard shell, very soft and squidgy, only about half the size of a normal egg. While playing with it I dropped it and found what looks like an organ inside. I'm assuming it's a chick? But I'm unsure why it's so developed as the nesting boxes are checked several times per day, so it hasn't been incubated. And as far as I know chickens don't lay eggs with actual chicks in? And why is it so tiny? I'm very confused. Should I be concerned about the chicken who laid it?

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Having broody hens for ten years, with all sorts of chick mishaps, hatches, and misfires, I can tell you that is NOT a chick whatsoever.

It looks like a "misfire" egg. One that was released too early in the egg tract that did not fully calcify. Not being able to hold it and tease it to see actual substance, my guess it probably is just extra albumin (egg white) in the middle. It might also be some harmless tract tissue.

If it is "cheesy" substance, then it is known as a "lash egg" which is a bad sign of infection.

But my guess it is the "fairy egg" of a beginning or ending layer, or simply a misfire.

LofMc