Very relieved to find this thread after googling strange objects laid by chickens.
Our three-and-a-half year old Isa brown had not laid for about three weeks. (Violet normally lays about four eggs per week.) She was also suffering from diarrhoea for the first week of her egg drought. We had, however, just moved her to a new location (our six girls came with us on summer holidays) and we also found a large paralysis tick near her eye, which we removed. So between all these stresses, I was not completely surprised that she had not laid. I kept a close eye on her but she was not exhibiting any signs of egg-binding and was eating and behaving normally, apart from the initial diarrhoea and the absence of eggs.
This morning, the first day after we returned home, she spent about an hour in the laying box before uttering an unsually triumphant cry. I went to collect her egg - she normally lays very large eggs, around 90g - and instead found what looked like a piece of cooked chicken sitting in a puddle of egg. No shell in sight. Just the strangest thing I have ever seen.
I went inside and put on a pair of gloves to handle the mass, which I initially thought might be an ovary or some other internal organ. It had the consistency, colour and smell (!) of cooked chicken and was about the same size as an egg, though not a perfect oval. I nearly threw up just trying to examine it. Couldn't bring myself to slice it open...
We don't have a rooster and I'm inclined to agree with previous posts that this might be the accumulation of protein around a trapped egg.
Would love to hear from anyone else with experience in this situation. I've had chickens on and off for thirty years and I've never seen anything like it.
