New feathers growing but I see some blood from time to time

cmaranhao

Chirping
Jun 28, 2018
179
79
78
Portugal
what should I do?

my chickens are now growing their new feathers back but I noticed that on a couple of chickens, sometimes I see some blood. I only noticed this on their backs, near the tail. the blood disappeared for some days but today I saw blood again. what should I do?

another question: one of the chickens has what looks like a giant pimple but no blood in that spot. is that normal?
 
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The giant pimple is probably the preening/oil gland. All your chickens have one, dont mess with it.
It sounds like you have some feather picking going on or an aggressive rooster mating his favorite hens too much. If it's a rooster, put aprons on the affected hens or apply peepers on the rooster.

If you dont see the picked feathers on the ground, it means the feathers are being eaten due to a lack of enough protein in the diet. Simply provide a feed with a high protein content such as gamebird feed. Then wean them off the gamebird feed in one month back to layer feed.
It could also be a pecking order issue if you introduced new birds into an existing flock.
If that's the case, separate the feather picker(s) away from the flock unseen for about a week, then return them to the flock. They will be knocked down in the pecking order and shouldnt be interested in feather picking anymore. However if the they go right back to feather picking, cull them and eat them. They will teach other birds how to pick feathers...monkey see, monkey do.
 
I have no roosters, they are 13 egg laying chickens and none has been introduced for about a year.

they always have lots of egg layer specific ration (pellets) and I give them our scraps in a daily basis. and from time to time I let them out of the run to free range in the backyard.

I have never seen rats or other pests either.

edit: searched google for that gland, it looks like it expect the one in my chicken is red and I am seeing pictures and it seems regular color is pale.
 
Today examined both chickens that had the blood yesterday, nothing to be found. But there was a 3rd chicken with blood.

This is only in their backs, where the tail feathers start to grow back
 

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