Blood in nesting box, can’t find cause

[Maine_chic]

Hi there all, I am having quite the triage day on this rainy Halloween! I went out earlier and my white Cochin had a broken feather on her foot. I took her in, cleaned it with water and put cornstarch on it. It seems to have stopped the bleeding. I had not checked best boxes because I was busy with Little Miss Broken Feather. After applying the cornstarch, I checked the nesting boxes. There was a green egg and we only have one green egg layer, Luna. The egg was perfectly clean but there was lots of blood in the box! I’ll try to post a pic (I’m new at this I looked Luna over, but she’s bright white so it was easy to rule out the blood is not likely from her. Our Cochin with the broken feather may have been in that box but I don’t believe she’s laying yet (I could be mistaken). So the blood is either from her foot OR another bird who is trying to lay an egg. My birds just started laying about 3 weeks ago. Does anyone have any advice on how I should proceed with this? I don’t want to jump to the conclusion that it’s the Cochins foot because if that’s NOT the issue then I may be leaving another of my girls with an unresolved problem. Thank you for reading and any advice you may have or experience you can share.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

my white Cochin had a broken feather on her foot. I took her in, cleaned it with water and put cornstarch on it. It seems to have stopped the bleeding.

Our Cochin with the broken feather may have been in that box but I don’t believe she’s laying yet (I could be mistaken). So the blood is either from her foot OR another bird who is trying to lay an egg.

Check out everyone to see if they have blood on them (check vents and toenails too). If no one else has been bleeding, then I would take a guess it was the Cochin with the broken feather. You may want to look at that broken feather again, sometimes they start bleeding again and need to be pulled. A pair of pliers works well for this.

 

[azygous]

Finding blood in a nest box isn't that unusual, or for that matter, of any huge concern. If this nest box is a favorite, numerous hens could have congregated in it and a mini-dust-up could have taken place where a comb could have been nicked by a punishing beak.

If this blood is a result of a hemorrhage in someone's reproductive tract, you should have no trouble finding blood on the butt feathers of the hen it's happened to. I have serious doubts you will find any bloody butt feathers, though.

Look for a comb that has been recently pecked. There should be some recently dried blood on it, and you will have solved your mystery.

There is always the chance that the blood is from the obvious injury to the toe of the White Cochin. She could have been in the nest being a busy body. Pullets can roll that way sometimes.

 

[Maine_chic]

Check out everyone to see if they have blood on them (check vents and toenails too). If no one else has been bleeding, then I would take a guess it was the Cochin with the broken feather. You may want to look at that broken feather again, sometimes they start bleeding again and need to be pulled. A pair of pliers works well for this.

Thank you so much! I will check her foot frequently!! I hope I don’t need to pull it but if it keeps bleeding, I’ll do it before nightfall. Would hate for it to keep bleeding! Thanks again!

 

[Maine_chic]

Finding blood in a nest box isn't that unusual, or for that matter, of any huge concern. If this nest box is a favorite, numerous hens could have congregated in it and a mini-dust-up could have taken place where a comb could have been nicked by a punishing beak.

If this blood is a result of a hemorrhage in someone's reproductive tract, you should have no trouble finding blood on the butt feathers of the hen it's happened to. I have serious doubts you will find any bloody butt feathers, though.

Look for a comb that has been recently pecked. There should be some recently dried blood on it, and you will have solved your mystery.

There is always the chance that the blood is from the obvious injury to the toe of the White Cochin. She could have been in the nest being a busy body. Pullets can roll that way sometimes.

Thank you very much!! Super helpful...you’re right, she may have been being a busy body, that’s definitely her nature! I have given everyone a once over and see no obvious signs of injury. I appreciate the help, I hadn’t thought about a comb injury but I’m always inspecting them. One girl has brownish black specks on her comb (not sure what that is from!) but no evidence of blood.