Almost had a heart attack tucking the girls in last night!!

[Thorn_shrike]

*disclaimer* bloody pics, but no actual harm done thank god

Every night I do a head count and tuck my girls in and get in some bedtime snuggles before closing up the coop. Last night I went in, looked to the left where the nesting boxes are and saw my big fat chantecler, butter, roosting on the edge of a nesting box. I just changed up their roosts a couple days ago and some of them are still getting used to it. Scooped her up and turned to put her on the roost and saw a ton of blood on the top of one roost!! So much that there were even drips on the floor. I panicked, quickly counted everyone and then saw another big blood splatter on a different section! Everyone was there, no one looked injured. I checked combs, wattles, eyes, then I checked vents….all good. Finally found the culprit, my sapphire gem had blood all over her legs and feet, finally figured out that she had broken off a toenail and had bled that much just from the quick of one nail! Geez

 

[User690263]

Poor girl!
I'm glad she's ok

 

[Chicken_Obsesser]

Oh.....my...............

 

[AxelLovesChickens]

Omg my heart would’ve sank so hard!! Glad she’s okay. It’s crazy how much blood they can lose from those kinds of injuries!

 

[townchicks]

Wow, that would give me a heart attack too.

 

[springvalley123]

I actually had that happen to my dog once. He was "spinning" in circles and caught his toenail in between the slats of the wooden deck/ramp. I'd look for any areas where two pieces of wood come together (perch/wall connections), screws sticking up/not flush, or old screw holes from where you had to adjust the height of a roost, etc. To make sure it doesn't happen again. It might not have gushed instantly, a bird can get a long way in a split second, but I'd follow the trail, or maybe it all started on that rooost?

 

[StinkyAcres]

This happened in my coop recently! I never could find out who was injured; everyone looked fine. But I searched BYC and found that it was most likely blood from a broken nail.