Chick has blood on his tail and looks patchy

[tangerinedreams]

My 3 week old chick has blood at the base of his tail feathers and has little bald patches on his breast/shoulder area. At first we thought he was just losing his fluff and getting feathers but now after seeing the blood i'm worried!

He lives outside with his mum and another hen. We feed him chick feed and corn plus greens and sunflower seeds a few times a day. At the moment they don't have access to grass.

Anyone got any tips? Is there something I'm doing wrong or not meeting his needs? Could it be a disease?

Please help I desperately don't want her to die!

 

[Judy]

First I'd check the flock closely for lice/mites, at night. They can get them from wild birds flying over. Then watch closely to see if the other hen (or even mama) is doing this, and separate the bully. Three weeks is old enough that the mama may have stopped being a mama and protecting the chick from the other hen. If so and this is happening, you'll need to raise the chick separately till full size. My broodies have usually stop mothering around 4 weeks, but they have a whole field to get away from the older ones, and there's been only pecking now and then, no blood.

 

[tangerinedreams]

I have seen the mum give her a few pecks but I (naively) thought she was helping him out with his feathers. How do I check for mites? They are quite scared of me and always go crazy and flap around when I have tried to grab them for previous reasons.

Thanks for your quick response though.

 

[bentmtnhen]

Try to catch your chick when eating. Might make it easier to get close.
Good luck!!