Chickens with bloody bottoms

[ginakb4]

I had 6 giant cornish hens that were hatched at a school in Nov. 2008. The other day 2 were bleeding alot! I thought a animal had attack them. I noticed the one had a long bloody thing hanging out of his bottom dripping blood. Both died that night. Now the other 4 all seem to have bloody bottoms to, but are eating and drinking ok. I am starting to rethink my theory that it maybe wasn't an animal attack. I do have 20 others chickens, they are on the smaller scale and all seem fine. Help please! I have had chickens for a long time and never had this problem before.

 

[SpottedCrow]

They could be cannibalizing each other.
Separate the ones who are being pecked and spray them with bluKote or WoundKote.
The red of the wounds will cause the others to peck them more. The spray will cover up the red of the naked skin and the blood and is also an antiseptic.

 

[chookchick]

How much room do they have to run around in (coop/run size)? What are they eating and do they have food 24/7? Is there any way that rats could get into the coop? Sounds awful, hope you can stop this!

 

[ginakb4]

Their coop is quite large and they free range all day. Someone told me to limit their food so they only get food at night and some scratch in the morning. No rats! It seems wierd it is only the 4 , all other birds are fine. Never had these kind of birds before. Almost think they are exploding from the inside. It is horrible!! They are so young and sooo! big. I did call the vet, but not available till monday. They are walking around dripping blood. What should I do??
Thank You!

 

[SpottedCrow]

Were they on medicated chick starter?
You might need to take a faecal sample to be tested for cocci.

 

[chookchick]

Giant Cornish hens sounds like a meat bird. If so, they are constantly ravenous and probably need to have feed available at all times. They are probably cannibalizing each other! Meat birds also don't hold up very well in the long run (like after 8 weeks) and it may be best to butcher them. I don't know a much about that breed so you may want to post under the meat birds forum and see if it is even possible to keep them without problems developing.