OK so this is where I have to eat crow, so to speak & give you an update.
I found said golf ball on the ground so was expecting to find a mess of a bird when I got to the hen. She was dirty and matted underneath from all the mud and sawdust, food, etc she'd run through from the recent hurricane, and on dirty on top from the rooster getting her dirty so she was easy to pick out of the rest of the flock. We brought her inside to bathe her & try to investigate the crop wound and found there WAS NO wound! I couldn't believe it- or figure it out. I put her back with her sisters & came back inside, bewildered.
Then, my fiance had a thought & suggested something - 'what if one of the eggs got broken and got yolk on the golf ball... then she went in to sit on it to lay her own egg which took some time & with her body heat, she "cooked" to it?
That HAS to be what happened! Plus, she lost several feathers on her 'belly' where it must have fallen off & ripped the feathers out.
So, while I am completely embarrassed, especially that I put it on a public forum, I am equally as relieved she is OK. But I am SO sorry for wasting all of your time- I truly thought she had consumed it.
After being pretty worried about her all day and frustrated at not being able to catch her to help her, we had a good laugh out of it- and it came at a good time during a recent stressful family event. So, I hope you all can get a good laugh out if it & go put your golf balls back in the nest- they won't eat them.
I'll go eat crow now...
