So one of my chooks has been off the lay and looking a bit scrappy lately around its backside.  I was wondering if it was egg-bound but indications were that it wasn't... so how do you explain this thing that it laid today:



I'm not kidding, she really did lay this... it was laying in the nesting box and yes, it does look like a potato or something else but I just cleaned out the pen last week so it wasn't anything foreign... and it was a bit squidgy so I took it inside and cut it open and..... oh........ the smell!!!  It was a bit fibrous inside, a bit like this (sorry about the lighting but you'll get the gist...):



Anyway it was very gross... but I'm hoping that this was the problem and that she'll be on the lay again now...

We'll see... but I hope I don't see anything like this again for a while!