Help please. Blood!

[Nancie]

This bird doesn’t look as bad because it was after we cleaned off all the fresh blood... dried stuff left

 

[Aunt Angus]

I hope @Eggcessive and @Wyorp Rock come back to offer guidance.

 

[Nancie]

4 bleeding hens... 5 not bleeding hens. 1 rooster

 

[EmmaRainboe]

4 bleeding hens... 5 not bleeding hens. 1 rooster

Have you been able to watch them at all to try and see who might be causing this?

 

[birdywingz]

This bird doesn’t look as bad because it was after we cleaned off all the fresh blood... dried stuff left

Yeah, if it’s happening to multiple birds, one of your birds is doing this. If you really don’t know who it could be, just make sure you separate the bloody birds from the flock and keep them separate. I’m not really sure how you could do that, if you have small cages you could keep them in to heal up that could be good, make sure they are eating and drinking

otherwise you just need to watch the healthy birds and see if anyone is suspicious. You could also separate the birds one by one and see if you can see who’s doing it? Sorry I’m not much help right now. Hopefully you can figure it out.. just make sure to keep the injured chickens comfortable. Also keep checking their injuries, I’m sure you already are but if they get infected it won’t be good.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I found blood on an egg and looked to see one of my 9 month old hens bleeding from her vent. What would cause this and what should I do?

Ok. Upon further inspection after cleaning her up, i think it looks like s cut up above her vent? I wonder if there is s bit of a nail sticking out in the coop...? I just don’t know what else

9 hens and 1 rooster. Nothing like this has ever happened before. They are 9 months old. I just can’t believe that there are 4 of them witt the exact same thing and all SO bloody on the backside. I really wish I had cameras out there!

Can you get some photos of your coop/run?
Your rooster is also 9 months old?
How much coop/run space do you have? Anything changed in their environment - have they been cooped up more due to weather, etc.?

Injury to the vent like that is very likely from one of the other birds. Observe them and see what's happening.
For the ones that are injured, rinse them off well and apply some triple antibiotic ointment to the wounds. I've never used it, but you may want to consider getting some pine tar and applying to the cut places to help deter more picking.

 

[Eggcessive]

Separate the bleeding birds, but I would also think about separating the rooster. That is not easy to do in the winter cold when waterers might be freezing. This has been going on for awhile. When one is bleeding it will usually get others to start pecking the blood. BluKote spray which does sting, can be used to make the injury blue, so that may stop the pecking. You may need to clean some vents by soaking them in warm soapy or Epsom salts water. You really need to get on this or you may lose birds. Vent pecking can lead to death in severe cases when intestines are pulledout through the vent. Get into the coop and see what is happening. I am sure that you are very concerned, and will do what needs to be done. They may need a larger coop, or to get outside to roam, but also let us know what they are eating. Do they have food and water during all waking hours?

 

[LaFleche]

Do you perhaps have ducks/drakes sharing the same coop and yard/run with your chickens?

The ripped bloody vent looks as if a drake forced himself on he hen to mate.
Drakes can kill your chickens trying to mate them (drakes have a long penis formed like a corkscrewer which will rip the insides of the chicken apart and tear it out). They even sometimes kill their own females when hormones start raging.

https://external-content.duckduckgo...xpfA78/9059334235_98bb93b4a6_b.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

 

[Nancie]

I laid in bed in the middle of the night trying to figure this out... I think it may be because when I was gone yesterday morning, the kids forgot to let the hens out until really late... like 10:30am which means they were cooped up with NO food (only water) until then. Their coop is adequate for 10 birds, but with no food in there... I think they were completely bored and probably hungry. Last week, they ate insulation in the walls when they got bored. Ok, So i'm taking steps to make sure they are not cooped up and bored in there during the morning hours anymore... I will look for this Bluekote. So that will help cover the red so they don't get picked on? Is that the best way to cover red on the vent area? It's tricky because its not like you can wrap that area! Thanks again for all the advice

 

[Nancie]

Our rooster can be very rough on them as well... I"m guessing if he was hungry and bored he may be the culprit. I am not putting him back in there for a long time until they're healed.