Blood on roost

[charlotte-and-the-bees]

Hello!

I noticed some blood on the roost in our run today. Pullets are all 18 weeks old and not laying yet. I looked at all of their vents and all over their bodies, only saw a little blood on the feathers of one of our girls but she didn't have any injuries. I have no idea what it could be from! It was so watery it doesn't look like poop, but since it's on the roost I assume it was...? All of them are acting relatively normal (it's smokey outside but we are doing some air filtering). No discharge on face or anything indicating respiratory issue. At a loss! Would love any advice or thoughts.

 

[M-H-Fielding]

I once found some blood on one of my roosts a few months before my hens started laying.

My guess would be, since your hens are so young, maybe one of them was slightly injured but never showed any sign of it?

 

[charlotte-and-the-bees]

I once found some blood on one of my roosts a few months before my hens started laying.

My guess would be, since your hens are so young, maybe one of them was slightly injured but never showed any sign of it?

That's what I was thinking - just couldn't find any wounds. The blood is definitely new - we had them inside for a few days with the smoke and finally put them out again yesterday, had done a thorough clean out right before. That's interesting about the laying - I was a little concerned they were having a vent issue pre-laying.

 

[NatJ]

I looked at all of their vents and all over their bodies, only saw a little blood on the feathers of one of our girls but she didn't have any injuries.

Given that it's on the roost, I might suspect feet--if one broke a toenail it could bleed but then scab up. Or a tiny injury on the underside of the foot could bleed and then be healed enough by morning that you might not see it.

Combs and wattles tend to bleed very profusely from very small injuries. So a comb or wattle injury that produced such a small amount of blood might be invisible by the time you looked.

If it's any of those, it will be fine without treatment, but you may never find it to know for sure what caused the blood.

 

[charlotte-and-the-bees]

Given that it's one the roost, I might suspect feet--if one broke a toenail it could bleed but then scab up. Or a tiny injury on the underside of the foot could bleed and then be healed enough by morning that you might not see it.

Combs and wattles tend to bleed very profusely from very small injuries. So a comb or wattle injury that produced such a small amount of blood might be invisible by the time you looked.

If it's any of those, it will be fine without treatment, but you may never find it to know for sure what caused the blood.

That makes sense! I'll check the feet. They all love to cuddle with the one with the blood on her feathers, so I can imagine one of them bleeding and snuggling up against her. External scratch seems much better than internal bleeding so hoping they're fine.

 

[coach723]

Even a very tiny black spot on a comb or wattle can mean it was cut or pecked, and they can bleed more than people expect. If you see blood on feeders or waterers it often means a comb was injured. They usually heal up fast, and often the only evidence is a tiny black spot.