Help! Young silkie pullet not doing well

[Tintedwinged]

Hi all - hoping you'd be able to help on through here ... I'm a first-time silkie owner (and have only had chickens for about a year now, all of whom we love and care for deeply). We have about 7 young chicks of different breeds (2 black Marans pullets, 1 olive egger cockerel, 1 silkie cockerel, and 3 silkie pullets) who were all hatched by me from eggs I bought online (on ebay/ etsy) together around April. They are all doing great except I've now seen blood (or blood-like, it was red/ dark orange colored) leftover droppings on 1 silkie pullet's bum, she has light grey feathers so you can see if there was anything left over after she went to the bathroom. She is also considerably lighter than the other 3 silkies. She seems to be doing fine otherwise, eating and drinking (I think, though we hadn't watched her too carefully) there isn't any bullying in her group and the roos and all of them take care of one another pretty well. Should I be worried? We don't have any vets where I live who will see chickens.

PS: as an aside, I also raised them on medicated chick feed when they were all firstborn but they were all treated with Coccidiosis (Corid dosages) when they were a few weeks old. No other chicken droppings seem to be impacted or infected.

Any leads or help would be greatly appreciated, many thanks!!!

LIz

 

[dennisma1]

Is she laying?

 

[Tintedwinged]

Is she laying?

Not yet, but close - our hen that is a few weeks older just started laying the other week so these guys aren't that far behind.

 

[Swbertrand1]

+1 on the possibility she's laying. Photos of her stool help tremendously as well as photos of her vent.

As for the blood, she might have laid and you didn't know it. Those first few eggs can tear the vent a little, in which case you might see some blood on her and/or the egg.

In case it's something else, and to be able to monitor exactly what's going on with her, maybe separate her from her hatch-mates for a few days and see what you discover. Of course, make sure she's eating and drinking during this time. Look for abnormal stools and watch for an egg (hard to miss, right?).