HEMORRHAGING HEN

[Fawn and Fam]

When I went inside the coop today there was a lot of bright red dried blood all over (not in the stools, just by itself). I have two 21 month old hens. Even though both were acting normal and didn't have blood on them, I think I know which one it is because of the location on the perch. There was a dried puddle the size of a softball on the 2x4 perch w/ a few splash marks in the PDZ. Also there were 2 more dried puddles the size of baseballs in other locations on the perch, along w/ blood trails all over the coop from feet marks. In the coop also was an egg laid by the hen in question for the 1st time in 3 months, though no blood on it (they had been molting). I don't know what that means but I can't imagine that it's a coincidence that on the same day as the blood there is also an egg for the 1st time in 3 months.

The only other thing that I did differently was on Sunday and Monday I gave them the greens off the top of organic carrots from the store. This incident either happened today or yesterday since yesterday I did not go inside the coop just the run. What does this mean and what do I need to do???

 

[Eggcessive]

I will occasionally find blood on a roost, and it usually has been the result of either a blood feather being pecked out from a leg/foot on a feather-footed bird, or from someone pecking another's comb. I would take a flashlight or head lamp tonight and walk through the coop inspecting vents, just in case someone's vent has been pecked. Occasionally a chicken will have a prolapsed vent, and others will peck at the red tissue. Also, some may just peck at vents, and cannibalize others. That sounds like a very large amount of blood for one hen to lose. While an egg sometimes can have a small blood smear on it, that sounds like something else.

 

[Fawn and Fam]

It is a very large amount of blood that is how I know it is coming from internally since she has no wounds on her. I will however check her vent in the morning to see if it is prolapsed or her sister has been pecking at it.

My only other thought...is it possible she swallowed a nail or staple? She may have found one and it punctured something inside her? They are in a newly built coop, also we just recently wrapped the run w/ plastic for the winter and secured it w/ staples.

 

[dawg53]

It is a very large amount of blood that is how I know it is coming from internally since she has no wounds on her. I will however check her vent in the morning to see if it is prolapsed or her sister has been pecking at it.

My only other thought...is it possible she swallowed a nail or staple? She may have found one and it punctured something inside her? They are in a newly built coop, also we just recently wrapped the run w/ plastic for the winter and secured it w/ staples.

That's alot of blood loss. I dont know if a nail or staple would make it through the crop or gizzard. I agree with Eggcessive in that you should go out in the coop tonight and take a look and see what's going on. With that much loss of blood, you might find a dead hen inside their house.

 

[Fawn and Fam]

I had just been out there that is why I was going to go in the morning, however since I hadn't thought to inspect their vents I decided to go back out and do that. I just got back in and there isn't any fresh blood and both seem fine. I checked and found no prolapsed vents, nor blood on their vents. I didn't find any wounds on them. I'm still thinking it came from internally but don't know why or what to do?

 

[Eggcessive]

I really think that if it was coming from one of them internally, that you would see signs around the vent, just like you would see diarrhea coating the vent feathers. I usually never find the reason for blood that I find on the roost. With just 2 chickens, this seems unusual. Tomorrow, I would probably grab both girls, and look them over well. And make sure there are not small holes where a small predator could get inside the coop. you may want to get some Poultry Nutri-Drench or Poultry Cell and dose them for a few days because those contain iron, which may help to off set anemia from the blood loss.

 

[Fawn and Fam]

Thank you Eggcessive & dawg53 for your responses, thoughts, knowledge, and encouraging me to go back out.

It definitely isn't a predator, their new coop is like Fort Knox and the Taj Mahal in one. I studied, studied, studied...unfortunately spent, spent, spent, and hubby built, built, built. I would be shocked if a mouse got into their coop OR run, lol. A friend mentioned it may be a foot/nail injury which said bleed profusely, that would make sense since the largest puddle was where she lays on the perch at night. I didn't notice any injuries but did not look on the bottoms of their feet, I'll do that in the morning.

They always have poultry vitamins in their water however it does not appear to contain iron. I will get some tomorrow. Thanks!

 

[dawg53]

Thank you Eggcessive & dawg53 for your responses, thoughts, knowledge, and encouraging me to go back out.

It definitely isn't a predator, their new coop is like Fort Knox and the Taj Mahal in one. I studied, studied, studied...unfortunately spent, spent, spent, and hubby built, built, built. I would be shocked if a mouse got into their coop OR run, lol. A friend mentioned it may be a foot/nail injury which said bleed profusely, that would make sense since the largest puddle was where she lays on the perch at night. I didn't notice any injuries but did not look on the bottoms of their feet, I'll do that in the morning.

They always have poultry vitamins in their water however it does not appear to contain iron. I will get some tomorrow. Thanks!

My coops are Ft Knox's too, but they wont stop snakes. It is cost prohibitive to build a coop entirely of hardware cloth $$$$.
Let us know how everything turns out for you, and good luck.

 

[Fawn and Fam]

Yes, definitely true of snakes but I thought snakes in Michigan only were bad for the eggs. Right now I believe they are all hibernating. In the spring though is there some type of snake here that can hurt my chickens?

 

[dawg53]

Yes, definitely true of snakes but I thought snakes in Michigan only were bad for the eggs. Right now I believe they are all hibernating. In the spring though is there some type of snake here that can hurt my chickens?

LOL. I dont know what kinds of snakes yall have up there. I lived in southeast Georgia most of my life until recently moving to Florida. In Georgia, I lost quite a few chicks, pullets and cockerals to yellow rat snakes, aka chicken snakes around here. The pullets and cockerals were too big for the snakes to swallow. You could tell that the snake tried to swallow the birds. The head and neck feathers were matted down, somewhat wet and sticky. I killed the snakes on sight. They never went after the eggs, only the birds. I almost lost an adult Buff Orpington hen to a yellow rat snake...but that's a different story.