Blood in nest and on eggs. Hens have been laying for months...please help!

[SoManyHats]

A couple days ago, one of our eggs had blood on the shell and there was blood all over the walls in the nest box. I checked the vent on all the chickens, and they all seem fine. They're all eating well and acting normal. But the next day there was another bloody egg. What could be causing this?

 

[Yay Chicks!]

I had a few bloody eggs in the beginning of the laying process, but not later on. Are yours fairly new layers? I'm guessing there is a strain on the tissues. The blood on the walls may have been "painted" on there after the hen was done laying and stood up.

 

[realsis]

When my pullets first started laying they had some blood smear on their very firt eggs but when the second eggs came they were clear. Id be afraid that something could have torn or ruptured in your bird if their is that much blood present. Is your bird a first time layer?

 

[SoManyHats]

They have been laying since fall.

 

[SoManyHats]

How do I go about figuring out which one it is since there's no sign on the outside? And if I find which one did it, what do I do?

 

[realsis]

If you find out which bird is doing it if you can not bring her to the vet I would try to slow down her egg production to give her body a chance to rest and heal. You can try to do this by bringing her inside the house and keep her in a nice dark quiet calm environment. Hopefully the darker environment will slow the egg production down. Since the egg production is legthened or triggered by daylight hours hopefully if she is in a darker area it will help stop or slow it down. This might give her body a rest and a chance to try and heal the area that is torn inside her. Since she is only bleeding when laying and their is no outward signs of trauma my guess is something is torn indide. Hopefully if you can slow down the egg production with darkness her body might have a chance to right itself. This is what I would try if she were my own and I could not take her to a vet. Hopefully this will help her. I do hope this is helpful and wish you the best. At this point this is all I think you can do beside take her into a vet. Perhaps her body needs a rest from laying in order to heal the tare inside,.please keep us posted on how she is doing ok. I really hope you can figure out which bird is doing this soon so you can start to try to help her. Good luck and God bless.

 

[realsis]

In order to find her I would try to go into the hen house BEFORE they lay in the morning and watch. Then hopefully you will be able to see them lay and see exactly who is doing this. Hope this helps. This is what I would try in order to sort out who is bleeding from eggs.

 

[SoManyHats]

It has stopped happening for now. So I hope whatever was wrong is fixed. But I still don't know which hen it was.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Maggiesdad]

Blood on the walls sounds like someone had a bloody comb, perhaps from earlier frostbite healing?


Was it smeared or spattered? Do you have a rooster with them? Sometimes the rooster will play in the nest, too.

 

[SoManyHats]

Hey Glen.
No frostbite here this winter! The blood was smeared in the corner, along the back wall, over the roosts, and then a little on the floor. I was thinking that possibly one of the Nov. babies was playing in the nest and got attacked by a bigger hen wanting to lay. I didn't think about it at the time, so I didn't check them for injuries.

Everybody has been good lately, thankfully.

Thanks!