Hen with blood in her vent

[Skcup]

Apologies for reposting but I did not receive any responses and have googled and googled but am not finding much info to help and I'm worried about my hen.

On Friday I noticed blood on the bedding of the coop and when I checked everyone out, she had blood on the feathers beneath her vent and a lot of accumulated poop.

Brought her inside and gave her a bath - vent looked clean and okay. Put her in a dog crate for monitoring.

She is approximately 8 months old and as far as I know, is not yet laying and I cannot feel any eggs stuck internally when I palpate (though if one's broken, I wouldn't know).

On the first day, she had a bit of diarrhea so I gave her some yoghurt and cider vinegar. Diarrhea has since cleared up.

Last night, after bathing her, she started expelling a small amount of blood through her vent again. It's very bright red and a bit thick; tbh it looks like menstrual blood or uterine lining. I know that chickens don't normally shed theirs so I'm confused.

I'm worried about her but she is behaving completely normally except for the blood. She is eating and drinking well. If she had a broken egg stuck inside, would she seem sick?

I've been giving her an oral AB in her water just in case but it's been about 5 days now at least and that seems like a long time for her to be unwell.

Has anyone got any advice or information?

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry you haven't gotten any answers in your previous thread. Do you think it is possible that another chicken has been pecking her vent? Chickens can peck at another's vent, and it can escalate to cannibalism if they see red blood. Other causes of blood from the vent that I'm aware of are coccidiosis, enteritis, and capillary worms. Would it be possible to take in a sample of her droppings (both Cecal and regular droppings) to a vet for testing for coccidia, worms, and bacteria? I would definitely worm with Valbazen, 1/2 ml given orally, then repeated in 10 days. What antibiotic have you been using, just in case it may treat enteritis?

 

[Skcup]

I will try worming her... we do not have an avian vet anywhere nearby so I'm struggling to find any info. Thank you for the response.

It is definitely coming from an internal source; there are no wounds, scabs or peck marks on her skin. This morning when I watched her expel some blood, it was very obviously coming from the inside. It's not present in her droppings but happens when she strains without pooping.

The AB is oxytetracycline and I just started her on it yesterday.

 

[Eggcessive]

You don't need an avian vet to get a fecal test done, if your regular vet will agree to do one. I would be concerned that she could be bleeding internally from an injury, such as swallowing something sharp, or that she could have active bleeding from possibly cancer. I'm not an expert on these things, but I would worm her, and consider treating her for possible coccidiosis with Corid or amprollium. Then if there is still bleeding, I would give her Tylan for possible enteritis. Enteritis can be treated with many different antibiotics such as Tylan, amoxicillin, penicillin, chlortetracycline, and others. I'm not sure about oxytetracycline, though. If you worm with Valbazen it will get the capillaria worms with one dose, and repeated in 10 days. If you can't find that, use SafeGuard liquid goat wormer 1 ml for 5 straight days orally.

 

[Skcup]

I've got Safeguard for horses at home - is the dosage the same?


I will pick up some Corid at the feed store tonight as well.

Thanks. I hope this helps her. It's amazing how easy it is to get attached as soon as a sick one becomes a "house chicken."

 

[Eggcessive]

Yes, the SafeGuard equine paste is the same dosage--1 ml 5 days in a row given orally for capillaria worms. Corid dosage is 2 tsp of the liquid, or 1.5 tsp of the powder per gallon of water for 5-7 days. It won't hurt the others to also be treated.

 

[Skcup]

Thank you. I wormed her last night and will continue this week. I didn't buy anything for the coccidiosis because the smallest size they had was a gallon and cost over $50. I will get it if the worming doesn't work. She still seems to be pretty much okay except for the blood so hopefully I'm not being stupid by treating one thing at a time.

I have a feeling it could be parasites though; I shut them up about a month ago in a much smaller area because the ravens were picking them off and it's been very wet and mucky and things in general have been a bit dirtier than usual. Perfect environment for a parasite explosion.

I'm worming the others too because it can't hurt. Will update if it resolves, thank you again for the responses.