bloody droppings

[mbrown03]

I have been searching the forum for information on causes of bloody droppings for several hours now - and I am just confused!

My hens are 13 weeks old - they free range - look and act very healthy - but I have started noticing bloody droppings, yesterday in fact. I found 2 this morning - out of 39 hens. One dropping was very watery and bloody - one wasn't watery - but bloody.

Other factors - I only fed one bag of medicated feed when they were chicks - then switched to unmedicated. They are on a dirt floor with pine shavings - we have recently been switching over to straw - my dirt is very sandy. Also - we were given a rooster that I only just found out had bloody droppings before - and was treated for worms before being given to us (though I'm not sure they confirmed a worms diagnosis).

I isolated him yesterday after finding large bloody droppings, but still found the 2 under my hens this morning.

So my question is this - how do I know if the bloody droppings are a sign of worms or coccidiosis?

Thank you in advance for any advice you can give - we are new to raising chickens and everything was going so well - we ordered 39 chicks, and haven't lost one yet . . .now I'm in distress!!!

 

[faykokoWV]

well, one lessoned learned, when ever you get a new chicken, isolate it for 30 days before you put it in with your flock. Maybe the rooster had something and gave it to the rest of your flock. I don't know the answer because I'm new too, hopefully someone will respond that has more knowledge.