HEMORRHAGING HEN

I sure don't like hawks, but they do a quite a job on snakes around here. We have rattlesnakes in some of the higher elevations and are seldom seen where I am. Gopher and King snakes used to be very common. I wish they were with the amount of gophers around here. I hope it was just a cut nail that caused the blood, Fawn and Fam. Let us know what you see today. Spoil them with a good supplement for blood building like we talked about. The poultry vitamins like you mentioned should have adequate levels of vitamin K, among others. Good luck.

Do either of your hens have feathered feet, where it could have involved a blood feather being pulled out? Nails, splinters on roosts, sharp edges on some feeders--there are many possibilities for blood loss, but usually not as much as you have seen.

Both of them are EE's so no feathered feet, roosts were sanded when building the coop, and no sharp edges on the feeders but yes she certainly could have hurt herself on a corner or a number of any other things. I believe you all are correct in that it was a leg/foot/nail injury though I can't seem to locate it. When I checked this morning all was normal. I did see the dried blood on both of the back of her legs, though it could be from laying in the puddle on the 4" wide perch. I did see a chunk out of the bottom of one of her nails but maybe it was already like that. The only other place it may have come from is her underside between her legs if she cut herself there. When I found the blood yesterday it looked like her underbelly feathers were a little wet/ruffled but again may just have been because of laying in the puddle. Since she is no longer bleeding I didn't want to prod her too much. PTL for the daily vitamins w/ K or she may have bled out before I caught it. I'm going to mix up an iron supplement right now for her.

Thanks for everything

dawg53 said:

LOL. I dont know what kinds of snakes yall have up there. I lived in southeast Georgia most of my life until recently moving to Florida. In Georgia, I lost quite a few chicks, pullets and cockerals to yellow rat snakes, aka chicken snakes around here. The pullets and cockerals were too big for the snakes to swallow. You could tell that the snake tried to swallow the birds. The head and neck feathers were matted down, somewhat wet and sticky. I killed the snakes on sight. They never went after the eggs, only the birds. I almost lost an adult Buff Orpington hen to a yellow rat snake...but that's a different story.

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Wow I'm glad we don't have to deal w/ that! In Michigan we only have small snakes that won't bother chickens, though I hear they will eat the eggs. We only have one poisonous snake which my husband, who has been a hunter his whole life, has never seen, not to mention we don't live in the country

I know that toe nails and spurs bleed a lot. More than you think. I too would check for feathers that have been pulled. Does she act sick?

I checked and there aren't any pulled feathers and she has been acting normal the whole time. I think it was a foot/leg/nail injury and there hasn't been anymore blood so I think all will be fine, thanks.