What is this thing???

[Summer_Dawn]

One of my hens (red sex link just about a year old) walked by and pooped(?) this thing out. She tried to eat it so I scooped it up real quick. What is it??? My first thought was a lash egg, but it doesn't look like any pictures I've seen and I assumed if it was some type of egg she would have laid it in a nest. She seems fine otherwise. She's got some physical limitations from what we assumed was an injury before we got her, but mostly she just moved a little slower. She's been laying normally and no other problems that I've noticed.

 

[redranger209]

Gum? Some rubber? My guess is that’s it’s something she couldn’t digest.

 

[Summer_Dawn]

Gum? Some rubber? My guess is that’s it’s something she couldn’t digest.

That crossed my mind also, but it's pretty "meaty." I was really trying to avoid cutting it open, but that would probably give me a better idea.

 

[coach723]

Yes, cut it open. It does look like a lash egg to me, could be early salpingitis. Best case scenario it's a malformed egg and just a glitch, which is also possible. If a vet is an option they can test for infection and recommend an antibiotic, but if it is salpingitis it must be treated early and often does not respond to treatment. My birds with salpingitis stop laying, so if she gives you an egg in the next few days, then hopefully just a glitch. Keep an eye on her to see if it happens again, or if she goes on to lay normally. If it looks like layers of cooked egg when you cut it open then it's likely a lash egg.

 

[Glitterchicks]

Cut it open

 

[Eggcessive]

Lash eggs from salpingitis can look varied, but that is what I would think it is. Salpingitis is an inflammation of the oviduct. Here is some reading:
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/salpingitis-lash-eggs-in-backyard/
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/134/salpingitis/

 

[rebrascora]

I would agree that it is probably a lash egg and the white bit looks like it may be an egg membrane. If you can crate her up so that you can monitor whether she lays a normal egg in the next day or two as @coach723 suggests, then that might help confirm or dispel it as salpingitis which will require immediate treatment with antibiotics to stand any chance of saving her.
If you can post a close up photo of it cut open, that also might confirm it's status as a lash egg.

 

[tripletfeb]

Have you cut it open yet?