A little blood on baby roo's foot!!!

Tonight we added the extension to our brooder as our chicks are getting bigger by the day! They love it, bouncing and flapping back and forth

Well, as we were watching them get accustomed to the added space, i noticed spots of red on some pine shavings here and there that they were going crazy for! Traced it back and it seemed that where one of the feathers on my maran roo's foot was bleeding a little where the feather was starting to come out. Not really sure if it's a cut or if it got pecked / pulled and started to bleed.

I got him out as the other birds started to realize it was his foot...so we held him and cleaned his foot and tried to stop the bleeding, ended up doing a little fabric bandage over top which worked for some time, until it came off...

Anyways, i guess my question is do i need to seclude him? Or is he ok with the other ones, they seem to have forgotten the whole thing and are sleeping all together right now. It's just that it's bed soon and i really don't want anything to happen to him while were sleeping and perhaps not notice until the morning!

It's still a little bit of a fresh cut, bright red so i'm not sure what action to take. I understand for the most part that if there's blood to take them out until it's gone, but if the other birds aren't paying any attention to the toe it would be ok right? I just don't want to seclude him from the others unless I have to because I only have one heat lamp, i'd have to take him elsewhere to a warmish spot...?

I'm just hoping that someone with more experience with baby chicks can help me make the right decision!

Can you post a picture?
It sounds like it could have been a broken feather. If it continues to bleed you may want to pull the broken one with a pair of pliers. Heavier bleeding you can use a little corn starch or flour to help with the clotting.
Wash the blood off in a little warm water, pat dry. If there is redness or it needs to be "hidden" a little bluekote can camouflage the area.
Put him back in with the others and keep an eye on him.

Get yourself some Blu-kote or Blue Lotion if you don't already have it. It's the most valuable thing to have in a chicken first aid kit. (Do a BYC search for firstt aid kits to equip your own - a must)

Most chickens get cuts and wounds from time to time, and Blu-kote is an antiseptic as well as anti-fungal, and the gentian violet in it also helps hide the redness of the wound so the others don't notice it.

Is your Marans a Black Copper?

Thanks for the great feedback, i'll be sure to check my feed store for that stuff!

I ended up checking just before heading to bed and his food seemed fine, didn't see any redness anymore so I left him with the others overnight, checked a few times through the night and they were fine still. This morning its like nothing had happened to his toe.

azygous said:

Get yourself some Blu-kote or Blue Lotion if you don't already have it. It's the most valuable thing to have in a chicken first aid kit. (Do a BYC search for firstt aid kits to equip your own - a must)

Most chickens get cuts and wounds from time to time, and Blu-kote is an antiseptic as well as anti-fungal, and the gentian violet in it also helps hide the redness of the wound so the others don't notice it.

Is your Marans a Black Copper?

Click to expand...

I was told they were Maran X because the lady was certain it was a Black Copper Maran Roo but not so sure if the hens were all Marans...were hoping maybe a few will be but fine if they end up not being so, i'm just excited to have them! One which were sure is a pullet has pretty copper speckling all over her on her black feathers, but as far as i know they should only have them on the neck, right? The other ones are pretty much all black, a few with some white spots on their underwing feathers, and the others i picked are brown (pretty safe to say their not BCM)

Here's our roo:


Here's his foot this morning


getting acquainted

Got the Blu-Kote today at the feed store, so if another incident like this happens i'm well prepared for it! thanks again to everyone who responded.

Gimpy is looking good and doing good 100%

Glad he is doing well! Cute little fella!
It never hurts to have some basic first aid supplies on hand.
Wishing you well.