Blood in chicken coop, what is it?

[Skyla]

Seems like being paranoid is a good way to keep chickens alive My 2¢ are you're on the right track with Corid. Puffing up is a classic sign of coccidiosis, so that's a clue.

On cold days, sometimes ours do like to fluff a little and nap in place. I always give them the side eye when they do that! But given the other clues like bloody poop and recent stress, Corid seems wise in your case. A lot of times, chickens apparently try to "be cool" even if they're low so they don't get picked on, so by the time you see puffing, they may be sicker than you think.

Do keep an eye on them. It struck me that we had and experience I should share. We had chicks who'd been outside about a month when there were 3 suspicious poops in their coop. The poop was a little rougher than what you shared. The blood was really bright. Based on context (age, weather, previous cocci in the yard, etc.), my gut said to start Corid right meow. I felt silly going to the trouble of switching everybody's water when all the chickens were still acting downright perky, but I did it anyway, thank goodness.

By the next morning, one wouldn't leave the roost to eat or drink. I snagged her immediately and gave her a stronger Corid dilution with a medicine dropper. She was too weak to protest. It was crazy how fast she'd gone downhill and just as crazy that she was back to herself by lunch! And the same happened with another chick the next morning!

After those 2 close calls, I continued to watch them and put a regular dose of Corid in their water for a week. We haven't had coccidiosis since, though ours are aging out of the highest risk time. I did thoroughly clean their coop and dig out the top level of ground where they'd been living to reduce the pathogen load for them.

Every experience with chickens is different--no telling if this is helpful but thought I'd share. Keep us posted if you think of it.

What was the stronger Corid dilution you gave her? I started treating them 2 days ago but they're only getting worse. I've now noticed more bloody poops so I'm guessing even more birds are having these bloody poops. They act somewhat alright except one, she was ok yesterday but this morning she's all puffed up, eyes closed, and won't move. What should I do?

 

[HiEverybirdy]

What was the stronger Corid dilution you gave her? I started treating them 2 days ago but they're only getting worse. I've now noticed more bloody poops so I'm guessing even more birds are having these bloody poops. They act somewhat alright except one, she was ok yesterday but this morning she's all puffed up, eyes closed, and won't move. What should I do?

There are different types of Corid, and I'm no expert, but with the type I have (liquid, 9.6% oral solution), I think I used 1/4 tsp in a shot glass of water and used a syringe (no needle of course!) to dose it directly into the chicks' beaks.

This year's so wiggy, my memory can't wrap around the specifics, but I got the idea from researching all over this website. The good news is that Corid's hard to overdose, so you have wiggle room. If I were you, I'd do some quick googling about whichever Corid type you have and try direct dosing into the beaks of the sickest birds asap. Good luck!

 

[Skyla]

There are different types of Corid, and I'm no expert, but with the type I have (liquid, 9.6% oral solution), I think I used 1/4 tsp in a shot glass of water and used a syringe (no needle of course!) to dose it directly into the chicks' beaks.

This year's so wiggy, my memory can't wrap around the specifics, but I got the idea from researching all over this website. The good news is that Corid's hard to overdose, so you have wiggle room. If I were you, I'd do some quick googling about whichever Corid type you have and try direct dosing into the beaks of the sickest birds asap. Good luck!

Luckily there is only one bird that appears extremely sick and I just gave her .6ml directly. And the cherry on top is I realized there was blood all over the coop and what do you know, she also ripped her toe nail off. I tried stopping the bleeding with some stuff we have for when we cut our dogs nails and they bleed but it wasn't working to well. I moved her into the garage so she wouldn't be walking around in poop and applied some neosporin to it. Is there anything else I should do?

 

[HiEverybirdy]

Luckily there is only one bird that appears extremely sick and I just gave her .6ml directly. And the cherry on top is I realized there was blood all over the coop and what do you know, she also ripped her toe nail off. I tried stopping the bleeding with some stuff we have for when we cut our dogs nails and they bleed but it wasn't working to well. I moved her into the garage so she wouldn't be walking around in poop and applied some neosporin to it. Is there anything else I should do?

I'm not the expert, but I'd err on doing a good coop cleaning (mainly to reduce the possible coccidiosis germs) and putting her back with her flock if you can--as long as she isn't getting picked on...because, how did she rip a nail out? That's wild. Is she getting picked on because she's sick, and she had to scramble to get away?

Of course, if the nail looks gory, you may want to hold her out a day so the other birds don't bother that toe. I'm a terrible person to ask about this as our birds are so laid back they don't peck each other's pecadilloes. I've not had to separate for injuries yet, as they oddly leave each other alone.

Has the bleeding stopped, and is she perking up after the extra Corid?

Poor things, all of you! I know you're doing your best. If things don't calm soon, you may want to post another thread to see if anyone with more experience can weigh in!

 

[Skyla]

I'm not the expert, but I'd err on doing a good coop cleaning (mainly to reduce the possible coccidiosis germs) and putting her back with her flock if you can--as long as she isn't getting picked on...because, how did she rip a nail out? That's wild. Is she getting picked on because she's sick, and she had to scramble to get away?

Of course, if the nail looks gory, you may want to hold her out a day so the other birds don't bother that toe. I'm a terrible person to ask about this as our birds are so laid back they don't peck each other's pecadilloes. I've not had to separate for injuries yet, as they oddly leave each other alone.

Has the bleeding stopped, and is she perking up after the extra Corid?

Poor things, all of you! I know you're doing your best. If things don't calm soon, you may want to post another thread to see if anyone with more experience can weigh in!

The coop is quite clean as the dropping board catches the majority of the poop which I will clean out but I think a full coop cleaning is unnecessary. Unfortunately it has been raining non-stop here for the past few days so the run is a muddy mess. I put her back with the flock after her toe stopped bleeding and am hoping she does not reopen the wound. Since they are new birds they do get picked on but they have plenty of room to run away. Her nails were very long from the previous owner and I had planned on cutting them so this wouldn't happen but I guess I was too late. I'm guessing it snagged on something and just, poof. She doesn't seem to be getting picked on more because she's sick so that's good, just the same amount as the 3 other new birds. She seems about the same after the extra Corid, I'll make sure to continue with the direct dosage for the next 2 days. I'll also probably directly giver her some of the mixture in the waters in case she isn't drinking enough. I really appreciate all your help and encouragement, it has been a very stressful few days. Thanks again!

 

[HiEverybirdy]

Oof, when it rains, it pours, literally. Hope everyone is feeling better.

 

[Skyla]

Oof, when it rains, it pours, literally. Hope everyone is feeling better.

Hi, thought I'd give you an update on the situation. I finished treating with Corid a few weeks ago and gave some direct doses to the sickest ones as suggested. The Corid unfortanately had no impact, I am still getting bloody poop and the birds are still acting sick, so I'm pretty sure its not coccidiosis. I never eneded up doing a fecal test but I just started worming the flock with Safe Guard Goat Dewormer 2 days ago since I have no idea what else it could be because the blood besides worms. One of my healthier birds, a year old, had been totally fine around 4 days ago and suddenly got sick real fast. She doesn't eat or drink much and mostly sits around puffed up all day with the other birds. I'm hoping deworming her will help her out, though I'm not sure if that's exactly whats making her so sick suddenly. I am a little nervous deworming the young birds, but their older than 6 weeks so I am hoping it won't damage them any. Some of the birds finished a molt about a week ago, I read some information that said it didn't actually effect feather growth and some that said it did, but I felt it was worth deworming them given their current state then risking some feather damage.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

@Eggcessive
This is puzzling, what do you think is going on here? When I saw that first pic I just thought it was intestinal shed, but obviously not.

@Skyla, can we get some more pics of these bloody poops as well as the sick birds?

 

[Eggcessive]

Sometimes some strains of coccidiosis can be resistant to Corid (amprollium.) It might be helpful to get that fecal float to find out if the cause of blood is coccidiosis or worms. Some strains of coccidiosis might require a sulfa antibiotic such as sulfadimethoxine or Albon, or sulfatrim, Bactrim, or SMZ-TMP. If you get the fecal from a vet, they could give you the sulfa medicine.

 

[Skyla]

@Eggcessive
This is puzzling, what do you think is going on here? When I saw that first pic I just thought it was intestinal shed, but obviously not.

@Skyla, can we get some more pics of these bloody poops as well as the sick birds?

Here is the picture of the bird:

Unfortunately I just cleaned out the dropping board and there hasn't been any bloody poop i've found (sometimes they won't poop blood for a few days then start again). What I can say is that the majority of bloody poops are not like the picture I put in the beginning of this thread, usually the blood is much less bright and more of a pale red. Good news, I just noticed some worms in their poop, so the dewormer is working! I am not sure the kind:

I know that chickens usually have worms and usually its not a problem, given that we now know they have worms for sure, do you think these are the problem? Also they have been having some very wierd poops (besides blood), so are very green, others very white, some very dark brown liquid etc:

Thanks for any help!