Lost two hens, bloody vents (graphic images)

[Wood River]

Hi all. We recently lost two amberlink hens and looking for any insight.

One died two days ago and the other today. Both with bloody vents but today, the hens vent was wide open.

All of my birds have been behaving active and healthy, eating and drinking, so I’m at a bit of a loss.

The only other clue I have is that some eggs recently, though not frequently have had some blood on them. I know this isn’t usually a big concern, except for the bloody vents.

Conditions: Birds are mostly all actively laying. I live in New England so early sun sets and it’s been relatively windy and cold (low 40s during the day, 20s at night). Coop has a heat source to take the chill out. The birds have been healthy except for a run in with cocci during the summer.

Any thoughts are appreciated!

First hen:

Second hen (today):

Eggs from today:

 

[BlueBaby]

Could they have had any broken egg shell's inside of them? That could possibly account for the blood at the vents.

 

[Wood River]

Could they have had any broken egg shell's inside of them? That could possibly account for the blood at the vents.

No indication of broken egg shells. And they’ve been laying consistently one egg each a day. But I suppose I can’t rule that out yet.

 

[BlueBaby]

Maybe someone else will be along shortly that might know what the problem was. I haven't had that happen to any of mine.

 

[Abriana]

so sorry for you loss.
Were they attacked? Some predators start at the vent. Perhaps it got scared off by something before it could get an further.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry for your losses
How many chickens do you have and how much space do they have? Are they all confined to a coop/run or do they free range?

It's hard to know what happened. I would definitely look for signs of a predator entering the coop.

If a hen has a prolapse, that could be pecked at by the other chickens. The vent on the first one is a bit prolapsed, it would be speculation on our part whether that was picked at after she died or before. I would think you would have noticed if there was blood on the faces of the flock members if they has been picking at that.

The second one, looks more like a predator attack, but then again with photos, hard to tell.

The bloody eggs...how long have these girls been laying? What do you feed them and do they have oyster shell free choice.

 

[Wood River]

We do have predators around, but there’s no sign of predation. The hens have a large run and are allowed out in the yard if we are present. And thinking back, one of the hens did have a small amount of blood on her face when I found the first dead bird. But I had not seen that before finding the dead bird.

I did a check of the hens this morning and two of them have some bloody feathers around their vents. So this makes me wonder if there’s a parasite issue.

They are still laying despite cold days and early sunsets. Could this be causing something? What about dehydration? I make a point to give them fresh water daily, but sometimes it freezes well before I change it. Could that lead to some kind of stress when laying?

 

[Eggcessive]

Do you change the water early in the morning or in the afternoon? If it is frozen in the morning, that might be a problem.

I think you may be dealing with a vent pecking/cannibalism problem. It can become a habit with all chickens. Boredom, too little room, or too little protein in the diet can be a problem. Some breeds can be more agressive as well.

 

[Eggcessive]

What type of feed are you using? As Wyorp Rock pointed out, a prolapsed vent can cause pecking. In young layers it can be common to see a blood smear on an egg occasionally, but vent pecking would be another reason. It might be a good idea to use a game camera in the coop, as well just to make sure that you don’ t have a weasel or some other small predator getting inside your coop. Here are some good articles to read if you have time:
http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/cannibalism

https://extension.psu.edu/poultry-cannibalism-prevention-and-treatment

http://www.poultryhub.org/health/disease/types-of-disease/cannibalism-or-aggressive-pecking/