Blood On Comb?

[howigetby]

So, yesterday I noticed that one of my favorite hens (a pretty little speckled sussex) looked as if she had a little bit of blood on the edges of her come and I wondered if perhaps one of the others had bitten her. This morning when I was doling out scratch (as I do every morning on my way out to go to work), I noticed a lot more blood. She is the only hen with blood on her comb. She still seems to be socializing with the others the way she normally does. And she still comes running to see if the cottage cheese container that I scoop the scratch with has any actual cottage cheese in it (lol, they can't get enough cottage cheese!).

Except for the blood, she appears to be just fine but then chickens hide it well when they aren't. Wondered if anyone else has come across this and knows what the cause might be and what I should do about it?

Is it just chapped from the cold maybe? Should I clean it with peroxide and put vaseline on it?

 

[Americana]

She could have gotten pecked or injured somehow. as long as she is OK otherwise, there is nothing to worry about, put antibiotic ointment , or vasoline and she'll be fine

 

[RhodeIslandRedFan]

I suspect she is getting pecked by one of your other chickens. A few days ago I caught my BSL harassing another hen who was in a nest box in the process of laying an egg. The BSL kept jumping in and out of the nest box, wanting to lay in the same nest and trying to nudge her way in, and they were pecking at each other. Later on I noticed blood on the BSL's comb. If I hadn't witnessed this I would never know what had happened. If your hen has a lot of blood on her comb so that it will attract the attention of the other hens, you might want to clean it off and apply Blu--Kote to prevent further pecking. Otherwise it will scab over and heal on its own.

 

[howigetby]

Thank you very much for your advice. I will look for Blue Kote at the feed store on my way home today.