Blood on Eggs day two

[mikeand217]

I've been out of town for a few days so my parents have stopped by to take care of my 8 New Hampshire's and 3 Plymouth Rocks. When I got back today I got 2 eggs with quite a bit of what appears to be blood on them (streaked fairly consistently from tip to tip). I then learned that this occurred with one egg the day before. It was getting dark so I couldn't check each one of them. When should I get concerned and what could it be
Thanks, new to the site what a great resources

 

[sourland]

How long have your hens been laying? If they are just starting to lay. it is not at all unusual to have some blood streaked eggs. The 'production line' has to stretch and adapt to the new function.

 

[mikeand217]

They've been laying since September

 

[sourland]

Knocks that theory all to heck. Are the blood streaked eggs significantly larger than usual? Maybe things are still stretching?

 

[mikeand217]

-No that's the thing they have been exceptionally consistent. They lay eggs a day every day. I had some double yokes about a month ago, but lately they are all about the same size. I read about mites and my group has a bad tendency to be a little canabalistic. I had them free ranging, but I have too many hawks so they are a little too confined at least until I finish their new pen

 

[sourland]

You might want to check and make sure that they are not pecking at one anothers' vents now that you mention problems with cannibalism. Again it may be none of this. Sometimes they just lay blood streaked eggs. If it is not excessive it generally isn't a significant problem.

 

[dawg53]

Check their vent area for mites. Watch them for feather picking around the vent area. These issues can cause the eggs to have blood on them. Another possibility if it's not mites or feather picking...capillary worms can cause this as well.