bloody egg?

[paparootzi]

Ok, I have seen a little blood on a hens "first egg" in the past and figured it was normal, but all my hens are now 1 year old. Tuesday, I had an egg w/ blood streaks on it and thought maybe I had a hen that had some difficulties laying her egg that day but yesterday I had ANOTHER blood streaked egg! I have 7 hens & 1 roo within this flock but today I discovered that it was one of my RIR's - I looked at her behind and saw that she had some slight signs of some oozing blood but she also had some dried poop from some loose poop I guess so I got some warm water and paper towels and cleaned her up a bit. She was doing that "winking" thing and so I could see a little blood clot just inside and also something that looked yellowish-green and I thought it might be poop but it did not wipe off so I was thinking she might even have an infection? I have taken my roosters to the vet for injuries in the past and wouldn't hesitate to take her too but if there is something I can get at the co-op to treat her with first (for an infection), I would like to try it. I compared her to another hen also and I think she even looked a little inflammed and red or even bluish inside her. I'm sorry I don't know the anatomy of a hen or if they have a "time of the month" ??? I'm not even sure how many orifices are back there? Do they poop, lay eggs, and mate from just one or are there other openings back there?

 

[FairfieldChicks]

definitly they dont have a time of month, lmao, sorry, that was funny

maybe you might wanna take her away from her boyfriend for a bit?? maybe there is something going on when they are mating??? im unsure, but if anything looks like an infection, I would get vet assistance

 

[paparootzi]

Thanks, I guess I'll have to take her tomorrow (before it gets worse) unless I hear any other suggestions. But seriously, how many holes are back there?

 

[OccamsTazer]

Birds only have one opening, called the cloaca, which is sort of an all-purpose exit hole. The urates and feces empty into the cloaca. When they want to lay an egg, the reproductive tract extends a bit to the cloacal opening, which is why you can get a clean egg

 

[paparootzi]

Quote:
Thank you so much! That is so cool to know!

 

[paparootzi]

Well, I took her to the vet this morning and he said it was an infection and gave me some antibiotics (Orbax) to give her 2x/day for a week and said to isolate her from the roo for a while but she's going to be OK, nothing serious!