What is This?

[Miss Lydia]

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffsb&q=lash+egg+image&atb=v263-1&ia=web

 

[Lrpete]

Contrary to popular belief just because they are labeled as "gallstones" does not mean they are all rock like as some can actually be soft. However, like I said before it was just a guess. Do you know exactly where you found them anatomically speaking? I know you said entrails, but that covers a broad spectrum of possible locations.

Unfortunately, no, I can’t tell you where I found them. When I started the eviseration process, she had a fully formed egg right near the vent. I cut across the lower abdomen, then cut through the membrane (sorry, not good at duck anatomy so I know I’m not using the right terms/labels), to release the egg and get it out of the way. Then I reached in to begin pulling out the entrails. I found a large yolk and about five of these balls in various sizes. I think they were near each other and somewhat ”free-floating.”

I just looked at some pictures for the duck anatomy and I’m gonna say that because they were near the normal looking yolk, and the fact that one of them looked like it had a small “hard-boiled” yolk in it, I’m gonna say that these were yolks/ovum that didn’t go down the reproductive tract. The interior looked almost like it had fetal material as well as the yolk in it. Definitely two different types of tissue.

This hen had mostly stopped laying eggs, but yet had one ready to go. Of course, it’s possible she was laying outside the coop, but I never found her going anywhere else to lay eggs. is it possible that these gray balls were in fact ovum inside a membrane that started developing inside her body and never left it? Could she have had a problem that prevented her from laying eggs? Could this be why she stopped laying? Could this be a problem with egg binding?

This is all very perplexing and I hope you or someone else reading this has answers.