Laying Hens have bloody rear ends!

[hipchic]

Well I'm not that new to chickens, but I have to say I've never seen this before. The past few days I've been noticing several of my hens have really raw, bloodly looking rear ends. It starts behind the wing and goes to the vent. These are young hens and have only been laying a few months, but some have been laying unusually large eggs the last couple of weeks. Would this have something to do with what is going on with these poor girls? I'm afraid some may be starting to peck at the wounds - haven't seen it happening but I know it can and will happen. Otherwise the girls are very healthy and show no other signs of illness. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[PeeperKeeper]

Yes, I've seen blood on eggs of new layers, especially when they start laying larger eggs. My concern is the blood you are seeing just behind the wing area. Chickens WILL peck at bloody spots! The best thing to use to stop the pecking is Blue-Kote. It is a purple spray that not only hides the blood red coloring, but I believe it is also a disinfectant. It can be found at farm supply stores.
Wear gloves and old clothing when using it....It stains! Nothing like going to church with purple hands! Live and Learn!

 

[LAMchop]

Young hens sometimes prolapse, usually when they graduate from pullet-sized eggs to bigger ones. This often starts the picking problem.
I've been having feather-picking problems lately, and now I swear by Wound-Kote (pretty much the same thing as Blue-Kote). When the skin gets bare I just daub on some, and the purple hides the redness so feathers have a chance to regrow. There are a couple purple-spotted hens running around here.

However, if theres blood, lots of it, I isolate the hen. Chickens will get in a blood-frenzy and peck others to death!
Good luck, hope you can get this worked out!

 

[hipchic]

Thanks so much for the replies! I had blue kote on hand, so there's quite a few blue spotted chickens running around, but thankfully the wounds appear to be drying up! I can't believe how quickly this came on and got out of hand - panic! So thankful for a place to come for such emergencies and questions. Thanks again!!