Blood on roost & poop board

[Shaylynne]

Hello,

I am new to chickens and I will try to give you most all of the info that I can think of. These are my first girls; I have 7 hens. They are all almost 9 months old. I live in Michigan, it's winter time and one of them is molting. She's been molting for about a month. Just mentioning this in case it's of any relevance. We have a nice little winter coop that we built this fall that has deep litter and a poop board.

I walked into the coop today to find this blood on the roost and in the pdz on the poop board. I took a picture of it before I cleaned up the board in case the poop is important. I thought maybe someone lost a toe or something! I looked at all of them, everyone seemed fine. I did not pick anyone up to inspect as I was fairly taken aback. I am unsure how to proceed from here.

Thanks for your help and suggestions,

Shaylynne

 

[BantamLover21]

I would go and pick up each bird and inspect it carefully. Possible causes of all the blood could be a broken toenail, scratched comb, plucked out growing feathers, or damaged vent/reproductive tract. Check around the nostrils and eyes, too, just to make sure there is no blood or discharge coming out of the mouth/nostrils. Since you say all the birds are acting fine, I wouldn't be too concerned yet. However, in addition to checking them over closely, I would carefully observe your chickens for the next few days for any strange symptoms, like droopiness or unusual droppings.

 

[sariea]

This is so strange. I noticed pretty much the same thing in my coop last week. It was on the roosting bar that usually only my wyandotte sleeps on so I checked her out and saw nothing. No injuries, feet look fine. I'm wondering now if it could have been a damaged pin feather. I was able to pick up and look at 4 out of 6 of my hens and they all looked fine. They're all acting fine, too.

 

[silkie1472]

With that much blood, I would not think it would be caused by a scratched/torn comb. Two possibilities are a broken toenail and/or a broken feather shaft. A new feather shaft and a toenail that has broken can produce a lot of blood. I would check all of the chickens and make sure that they do not get an infection of one has broken a toenail. More than likely one of them broke a feather shaft on the roost, causing the blood to drip into the board and the floor. If you see any blood like this in their poop, treat them immediately with Corid for coccidiosis.

 

[Shaylynne]

Thanks for the quick reply bantamlover. I went out and rechecked right after you replied. Everything looked okay. Tried checking all their feet, everything seemed okay, although it's been muddy with all the rain, the lighting wasn't the best with the sun setting.

I went out this morning and didn't see anything else unusual. I decided to open up the coop and take a picture of them all sleeping last night so I can see where everyone sleeps. Plan on doing it again tonight to see if it's consistant.

Thanks again!

 

[Isaac 0]

Really?No injuries i even see a feather.Looks like they got in a huge fight.

 

[Shaylynne]

Really?No injuries i even see a feather.Looks like they got in a huge fight.

Seems odd, right? There is likely something that I'm missing but nothing showing yet.
It's all new to me.

This is so strange. I noticed pretty much the same thing in my coop last week. It was on the roosting bar that usually only my wyandotte sleeps on so I checked her out and saw nothing. No injuries, feet look fine. I'm wondering now if it could have been a damaged pin feather. I was able to pick up and look at 4 out of 6 of my hens and they all looked fine. They're all acting fine, too.

That's pretty wild. Sounds very similar!

 

[Shaylynne]

With that much blood, I would not think it would be caused by a scratched/torn comb. Two possibilities are a broken toenail and/or a broken feather shaft. A new feather shaft and a toenail that has broken can produce a lot of blood. I would check all of the chickens and make sure that they do not get an infection of one has broken a toenail. More than likely one of them broke a feather shaft on the roost, causing the blood to drip into the board and the floor. If you see any blood like this in their poop, treat them immediately with Corid for coccidiosis.

You know, feather shaft so far seems to make the most sense. Like maybe a feather shaft that was broken more so on the front half of their body than the back half. The blood spatter on the ground was in front of the roost bar (it kind of looks like it's sitting underneath the bar in the picture, but it was in front a little bit) - I assume this is where her head was, as it looks like from the picture that their poo is behind the bar.

 

[Marinrey]

Hi, did you ever figure out what caused this? I found a similar scene in my coop tonight and none of the girls seemed off in any way.

 

[HerbDoll]

Yes did you ever find the cause? I have the same thing this morning, and am searching for the cause.