2 chickens, 2 bloody butts, need help - graphic photos inside

[Dobela]

One is a Golden Comet (or a Bovan Brown), the other is a TSC Tint. Both are about 10 months old (bought in March or April of last year as chicks) Both we not noticed to have a problem this morning when dh went out to feed and water. The other 30+ chickens and ducks seem to be just fine. The bottom 2 pictures are ther same bird. I had to switch to my iPhone and it didn't focus well (or maybe the kid holding the bird was not still enough). They are being pecked by other chickens and have been separated from the rest of the flock.

What is wrong, and what do I do?

Thank you!

 

[Dobela]

To answer questions from another thread that may help here:

1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.) 5 or 6 pound birds, don't seem any thinner or lighter than others

2) What is the behavior, exactly. Seems to be acting normally other than bottom issue. We noticed the blood when we noticed one bird being pecked.

3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? Just discovered them about an hour ago. DId not notice this am but don't know for certain when it began.

4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? Just these 2

5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. Bleeding as in photo and feathers pecked. No other injuries or trauma that I can tell

6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. No idea.

7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. Sees to be yes. When separated from rest of flock and allowed free range, acted nortmally.

8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. Don't know. haven't seen any signs of runny or bloody poo in the run or chicken house however

9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? Nothing other than separating from the rest of the flock

10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? Don't have money for a vet. May be able to cure myself depending on what is involved.

11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help. Done

12) Describe the housing/bedding in use 12x12 shed for house, currently has a mix of straw and shavings on floor - same as it has had for last several months. Large outdoor run is mostly dirt with straw and shavings that chickens have drug outside. Also have been given some free range time several times in last couple of weeks.

 

[CMV]

Cannibalism is the worst of bad chicken behaviors. I am sorry you are dealing with this.

Are they too crowded? How much inside space? How much run space?
Are they getting enough light or too much light?
Are they on a free-choice feeding program?
What are they eating? 16% protein or greater?
What treats are they getting?
Do you have any particularly aggressive birds?
What is your roo to hen ratio?
Do these birds have any history of laying issues? Specifically prolapse?
What are your nesting boxes like? Number? Size?

 

[Dobela]

Answering in quote.

Cannibalism is the worst of bad chicken behaviors. I am sorry you are dealing with this.

Are they too crowded? How much inside space? How much run space? 12ft by 12 ft inside, run is 12 ft wide and 50 ft long
Are they getting enough light or too much light? Light has depended on weather, mostly sunny days although last night was very stormy. Temps in the last 2 weeks have ranged from 30-60F daily (yeah, I know, crazy weather)
Are they on a free-choice feeding program? yes
What are they eating? 16% protein or greater? yes, laying pellets
What treats are they getting? kitchen scraps, free range time in woods
Do you have any particularly aggressive birds? no, most are pretty doicile.
What is your roo to hen ratio? 1 roo, a small silver seabright banty, 37 hens, 1 drake and 1 duck in pen
Do these birds have any history of laying issues? Specifically prolapse? never had any laying issues that I am aware of. Until winter we were gathering an avg of 34 eggs daily, now that has dropped to 27 daily, as we expected.
What are your nesting boxes like? Number? Size? Old metal boxes that no longer have a metal bottom (salvaged from an old farm), one dog house looking thing that is about 2ft x2 ft x 2ft. Metal laying box is 8 small (don't have measurements right now) across. Sits on the floor of house and we keep clean straw/shavings in the boxes. No unusual boxes found recently although we had a spell around Christmas where we werew receiving 1 egg daily that was about quarter size in diameter that never had a yolk. That stopped and all eggs have been 'normal' lately.

 

[CMV]

Everything looks like it should be working, but it obviously is not. Blukote their butts and keep an eye out for a repeat performance is all I can offer. I have seen pecking damage like that done by aggressive, bored birds, but you say your flock is pretty docile, so maybe they had a bad day? I almost want to say that it was done while the picked birds were laying eggs. I have seen birds go after a laying hen while in the process of laying, and those wounds are very similar to the wounds that the picked bird had on her vent. Perhaps adding some curtains to your nesting boxes would help? I am guessing that when those birds laid an egg a bit of tissue/vent may have prolapsed and led the other birds to start attacking the area. It doesn't take much to get chickens to swarm another bird.

 

[sassygal]

did anyone ever figure out what this is?
I have 3 Cornish rocks.. all three has the same thing. I just lost 2 of the 3 of them.. they died within a day of each other. they had bloody buts and then they got better.. i thought. then i found them dead with bloody butt again.. i don't know if they are all roosters and they were fighting over the hens or what....
please let me know..
thanks

 

[bensteph821]

2 of mine are having the same problem!! I put blue kote on and have been keeping an eye on it, thought maybe they were just pecking eachother!

 

[masschickvet]

If they are laying birds and they prolapse their cloacas (which can have many underlying causes, including obesity, large eggs, poor muscle tone, inflammation etc etc), then that prolapsed tissue looks especially tasty to other birds and they will go after it to the point of massacre and evisceration. It's awful. I would use Aluspray over Bluekote. I accidentally put BlueKote on one of my little chicks that was pecked and it turned into a pecking frenzy!!! Mine apparently like the color purple/blue as much as red.