My hens legs are bleeding, Help!

[CourtneyBrooke*]

I am guessing that my Golden Comet hen is the culprit! I went out to the coop earlier to let the girls out for some free range time and one of my black australorp's legs were bleeding(both of em!). My Golden Comet's nose was all bloody, so I could tell it was her doing the pecking! What could I do to prevent this and also what can I do to help heal my chickens legs? They really don't look that bad, it just freaked me out! Thanks in advance!

 

[Judy]

Chickens are likely to peck anything bloody. One approach is BluKote, an antiseptic that also colors things a bluish purple, which often prevents this. But I am wondering what the cause of this was. One thing that comes to mind is leg mites. If the scales on the legs are raised, this may be the problem. Lots of info on this. Generally, people coat the legs with something like Vaseline, reapply daily or so. This suffocates the mites. It's a good idea to clean the legs well with something like a soft toothbrush and mild soapy water first.

If you see no sign of leg mites, perhaps they are scraping their legs on something in the environment. Good luck!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/412676/treating-leg-mites-in-volume-update-problem-toe

 

[ccrow]

I second the Blu-Kote, but don't let it get on anything you don't want to be purple!

Last year when I was adding four pullets(2 barred rock, 2 buff Orpington) to the golden Comets I had, one of the BO's got her comb bit. It wasn't anything bad, but a lot of blood so I slapped Blu-Kote on there, and no more pecking. (The back half of her comb flops over, though!) And I agree, you should see if there is an underlying problem.