I would need a microscope to tell if the large ball was made up of smaller cojoined eggs. As I tried to scrape it off the quill, it came off in large segments as I tore it away from the quill, and the texture gave the impression of something like .... peeling an old dried kitchen sponge that has been used for weeks (you know, how they start off soft but tend to get harder each time they dry out?) The bumps are firm but not hard as a rock; they give a little to pressure but do not change shape at all.
but exactly same look & texture on inside as what you see on outside.
The size & variation in size is what stuns me. They are all pea sized - give or take. The roosters looked perfectly healthy, no feather loss, good weight, no problems with their poop, etc. Out of 3 roosters, one had it bad (the pictures are from that rooster). Another one of the same breed only had those balls on 5 or 6 feathers. The third rooster, a standard cochin/wyndotte with a little bantam thrown in, was clean.
The sick hen that I first noticed it on was a purebred standard white cochin hen.
