Dry blood around top and bottom of vent area

[chickzrule]

I noticed today that 6-8(24 total) of our ladies have dry blood around the top and bottom of their vent area(some the top around butt area and some around the bottom of vent area). I was dusting them for lice and that is when i noticed it and it looked kinda like peck/bite marks. I dusted them 2.5 to 3 wks ago and never saw any blood on any of them!!! They must have had a squabble the prior time as there was dry blood in the coop but none on any of the birds. Do you think that this is what happened again, but this time it was a serous brawl? Could it have been from a predator(but none are dead and doesn't appear to be any other wound marks elsewhere on their body) ?They seem to be eating and drinking as normal and the blood was definitely dry and old/crusty but i wonder what could have happened? The eggs are collected every 1-2days as is their water and there doesn't seem to be any blood in the coop this time, so...????

 

[Miss Lydia]

Sounds like you have a pecking problem, which means one or more of your chickens are pecking the others. You'll have to find out who the culprits are and fast, before it gets worse, once chickens see blood they can even kill. Find out which one and separate it. You might even have to cull or find it a new home. Once this starts it hard to stop it.. You can give them things to do like throw Boss and scratch around inside the coop if having to be shut up because of the weather, cabbage hung on a wire, flock block, things like that to keep their little bird brains busy...

 

[chickzrule]

They do get scratch daily and they have access to their indoor coop and nesting boxes anytime they want along with 2 outdoor runs(one covered and one not covered). The problem may be at night when they are in the indoor coop. Weird that they would be having a problem now when they have been together since Nov and no problems that i can tell from? What are the other products that you mentioned? I live in Canada and don't know if our local feed store would carry them. The cabbage is a good idea but wonder if it would work with freezing temperatures outside? Thanks for the advice!!!