Found blood in the coop this morning.

[jenjan8998]

Ok, let me start off by saying that I am very new to chickens! I got my first four, bantam cochins, back at the beginning of March. They were about 12 weeks old, now about 19-20 weeks, and had been raised together, no issues. I inherited my sisters RIR, who is a standard and full grown, bout a week ago. My roo, one of my cochins, pecked a few times, now he just watches her when she leaves the coop, but one of the lady cochins, I am guessing is the "alpha female" really doesnt like when my RIR leaves the coop. The only time they really have an issue with her is when she gets into the pen. I have seen no issues at night in the coop. They let her eat and drink, sleep on the roost with them. Well I woke up this morning, cochins were out already, normal there. Went to feed and water, opened the coop and saw this big red spot, a little red trail in the pine, and another little spot on the other wall, this is almost directly below their roost as well.. No injuries to anyone, everyone is walking around fine. No ruffled feathers, cochins are playing and eating fine. RIR is fine, no spots, no ruffled feathers, nothing is out of place. Really weird. No extra feathers on the coop floor like they were fighting. I dont think it was a scuffle, my husband thinks it may be related to the fact they may be getting close to laying. I am not sure of RIR exact age, but I know she is at least 25 weeks. Any information would be greatly. I am kind of freaking out no knowing what happened.. Thank you!!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Some possibilities:

One time I was certain I saw blood in the coop and run. This bright red splashed on the ground and on some wood. The chickens looked fine, no problem at all. I was mystified, then remembered I’d canned beets the day before and given them the cooked skins. What have you been feeding them? Anything red? Can they get to any red berries?

Chickens are omnivores. There is a good chance the velociraptors in Jurassic park were modeled after chickens. I’ve seen chickens peck mice, frogs, and small snakes to pieces to get them small enough to swallow. Normally when they catch something like that they play keep-away, with one grabbing it and running from the others, but stopping to peck it occasionally. I’ve seen a chicken swallow an entire mouse after it was pecked enough to break enough bones and destroy the muscles so it is limp enough to be swallowed. It wouldn’t surprise me if they caught a wild bird or some other critter and ate it.

If some chickens were fluffed up, lethargic, and just not acting right, I’d say that Coccidiosis was a concern, but you said they were acting normal. Keep an eye on them to see if any are acting lethargic, but I really don’t think Coccidiosis is a concern.

Keep an eye on them to make sure they are acting normal, but it’s probably nothing to worry about.

 

[jenjan8998]

The only red they have had was some tomatoes.. my cochins have had them before with nothing different happen.. but this was right below where the RIR rests on the roost. That was the first one she has had.. but would a tomato do that?

 

[Judy]

That was good advice, I think!

You won't normally see blood just because they are about to lay. The only thing I can think to add is, if you havent done this, you caan examine them fairly easily if you do it at night, picking them up off the roost one by one to get a good look, just in case there is a hidden wound somewhere. I've seen a couple of nasty cuts just below the wings where a spur got them.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Mine eat a lot of tomatoes during the season without that happening. I seriously doubt it was tomatoes. The beet skins made a difference and I've seen a blue sheen on the poop from them eating red cabbage so food is a possibility. But no, not tomatoes.

Judy makes a good point on looking for a would. Was the roost bloody? That might be another clue.

 

[jenjan8998]

Ok, I really didnt it think that it was tomatoes.. but thats all the red they would have had. There are no berries or anything like that.. I will look at this closer tonight for injuries.
They have been jumping our neighbors fence, so we will have to clip wings soon anyways, but I wonder if they got into anything in his yard. Luckily my neighbor is super sweet and is more worried about his cats getting them then them being in his yard! Thanks for all the advice!

 

[Dee Dee 2]

Usually when you see blood in poop it means Coccosidiosis (sorry I think I murdered the spelling). First I would determine if it really IS blood. If it is starting treating ? ? (the whole flock ?? someone help me here) for cocosidiosis (sp ? again) The picture you posted seemed far to bright red for blood unless it was very very fresh. Blood is usually a brownish color when it dries. If there is blood in the stool there is also other normal poopie stuff mixed in. Just a reminder. Any time you bring a new bird into a flock it is important to isolate that bird for 30 days even if it seems okay. Just sayin ~ I learned that the hard way back when I was really dumb about chickens. Best wishes with your chcken keepin.

 

[ten chicks]

That is a considerable amount of blood,if you cannot find any injuries i would suspect Coccidiosis and the fact that you found some blood beneath roost,esp if you think it may be the new girl. Watch your birds carefully b/c if it is cocci it can kill very fast. If it were my birds,i would start treating for coccidiosis with Corid(amprolium) as amprolium targets at least 9 strains of coccidiosis. One way Coccidiosis is spread is by bringing new birds into flock,birds are only immune to the strains they have had prior exposure to.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The OP said the hens are acting normally, not lethargic. To me, that indicated Coccidiosis Is not the problem. Chickens with Coccidiosis don’t always poop bloody stools, but they do act lethargic.

It won’t do any harm to treat with Corid, just observe the withdrawal period for eating the eggs. But if they are acting normally, I don’t consider it a probability, especially if that is the only blood or red stuff seen.

 

[ten chicks]

I am well versed in coccidiosis and aware that only two strains have blood as a symptom,but if there are no injuries then why take the risk of it being a cocci overload/outbreak? The timeline of a week since new bird was introduced does fit with it possibly being coccidiosis.

Years ago i purchased one week old silkie chicks i noticed blood in shavings a couple of hours after,chicks at this point were not acting lethargic and had no other symptoms,but i did start treatment immediately for cocci b/c i knew this is what it was,not one chick died and to this day are thriving happy birds,birds are not always displaying "sick" symptoms immediately.

Amprolium is a thiamine blocker not an antibiotic,parasite needs thiamine to survive reproduce block thiamine intake and parasite comes under control.