Bloody egg?

[jesse rose]

Hi there everybody. I'm new here and new to chicken keeping. Finding myself really attached to these girls so when I came up with a problem of course I'm in panic mode.

I have six hens of varying age. I usually get 5 to 6 eggs a day. The girls seem happy.

The weather is changing now and I may have let them out of their coop too early yesterday because I only got 2 eggs. Today I left them in a little longer and got 2 eggs in the nest box, but there was one more outside the nesting boxes but it was a little bloody and cracked on the small end.

All of the girls look completely normal and are acting normal, but I don't know who long to wait before calling a vet or what?

Also yesterday when I went to bring them in the coop in the evening there was an icky reddish stool outside the coop.

The weather has been unusually hot for this time of year, but they have access to plenty of clean water and manage to find cool spots in the shrubs and vines.

 

[Arya28]

Hi! I've never had this happen (knock on wood), but I can understand why you're panicked. I had an egg question the other day, and someone referred me to this article. A bloody egg is discussed somewhere in this article http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/common-egg-quality-problems

Hope this helps!

 

[Eggcessive]

I would inspect some chicken vents on the roost tonight with a light for any redness, swelling, or bleeding. Vent pecking or cannibalism can be troublesome if overcrowded or not getting enough protein in the chicken feed. Other causes for blood could be possible coccidiosis, or the normal blood smear occasionally on an egg in new layers. In coccidiosis, there may be blood in droppings, lethargy, standing around puffed up or hunched, or poor appetite. Cocci is treated with Corid (amprollium) in the water for 7 days. What do you feed, and do your chickens get outside to free range?

 

[jesse rose]

Hi Eggcessive. The girls get out daily to free range for a large part of the day. We have 2.5 acres that they can roam around on but you know they have to get over to my neighbors house. I'm sure they like her bugs more then mine. She runs her irrigation more than I do and I think they find her shrubs and vines cool during the day.

I'm currently feeding organic layer pellets along with some scratch. They get occasional kitchen scraps although for the last couple of weeks I haven't really had any for them. I'll only give them the scraps if theres no spices or sauces of any kind.

I've been sprinkling DE all over their coop every time I clean it out, but maybe that's not enough. Someone suggested to me that it wouldn't hurt to mix a little in their feed once a week or so. I plan to do that today.

I use mealy worms to call them home when I need to. For the last couple of days they all got some watermelon in the afternoon. It's been blasted hot here so that was a treat for them.

I work at TSC so anything I should get for them I can pick up today.

Thank you for any insight you can give me.

 

[chickens really]

DE is actually harmful to you and the Birds....
Sounds to me like she possibly just stretched herself more as she passed the egg...Its normal to find the odd egg with blood on it with new layers...

 

[jesse rose]

Yes, much of what I've been reading has stated that occasionally the egg will be larger. Thank you. For now, or at least until I can see any other symptoms, I'm going with that.

 

[Eggcessive]

I do not use DE because it can cause problems if inhaled or to eyes, and it really does nothing if eaten. Hopefully, the blood isn't anything serious.

 

[jesse rose]

Not so sure it's anything serious. At least not yet. Just got home from work and all girls are fine and acting normally and eggs are normal. I got some black oil sunflower seeds for them. Now I need to research how much to give? Like mealy worms as a treat? Or in their feed?