I couldn't figure out where to put this post, so I went with ramblings.
I am so blasted tired. Between fixing a new lot and cleaning houses(I hate nice clear days), I spent the day walking and inspecting chickens.
The henhouses are shut up tight at night. There is NO hole larger then 1/2 an inch. I opened the henhouse at daylight as normal. Everything was fine. I set old LoveBug down off the roost(bad leg), put Ray in the lot away from the girls(teenage hormones in full swing), and let the hens go running for the freshly filled feeders/waterers. About 10am I went through for the first egg collecting and found blood. Not a little, but a LOT of blood on the roost and in the shavings. It was mostly dry so it was there for several hours. Someone had been bleeding during the night. It looked there was about 1 and half CUPS of dried and glooped blood. First thought was where is the dead chicken?
The blood was right beside where I got LoveBug down from, so she was the first I checked. Fine, She is the same as always. Through out the day I have checked every bird in the house. That is 36 freeranging birds. About a dozen are pets and will let me pick them up for a check, the rest had to be caught. Everyone is fine.
The only one with any evidence was Droopy. She had dried blood on top of her foot and down her leg. Did a thorough check and found NOTHING. She had no wound, no injury, nothing. Not to mention the fact that she was doing her usual thing. A bird losing that much blood should have been half dead or just plain dead. Droopy was red combed and as grouchy as ever.
I still have no clue what happened or where the blood came from.
Mystery 2 is that my very detailed records are off by 1. I am only supposed to have 8 black hens in the henhouse. There are 9. I really can't figure that one either.
Matt
I am so blasted tired. Between fixing a new lot and cleaning houses(I hate nice clear days), I spent the day walking and inspecting chickens.
The henhouses are shut up tight at night. There is NO hole larger then 1/2 an inch. I opened the henhouse at daylight as normal. Everything was fine. I set old LoveBug down off the roost(bad leg), put Ray in the lot away from the girls(teenage hormones in full swing), and let the hens go running for the freshly filled feeders/waterers. About 10am I went through for the first egg collecting and found blood. Not a little, but a LOT of blood on the roost and in the shavings. It was mostly dry so it was there for several hours. Someone had been bleeding during the night. It looked there was about 1 and half CUPS of dried and glooped blood. First thought was where is the dead chicken?
The blood was right beside where I got LoveBug down from, so she was the first I checked. Fine, She is the same as always. Through out the day I have checked every bird in the house. That is 36 freeranging birds. About a dozen are pets and will let me pick them up for a check, the rest had to be caught. Everyone is fine.
The only one with any evidence was Droopy. She had dried blood on top of her foot and down her leg. Did a thorough check and found NOTHING. She had no wound, no injury, nothing. Not to mention the fact that she was doing her usual thing. A bird losing that much blood should have been half dead or just plain dead. Droopy was red combed and as grouchy as ever.
I still have no clue what happened or where the blood came from.
Mystery 2 is that my very detailed records are off by 1. I am only supposed to have 8 black hens in the henhouse. There are 9. I really can't figure that one either.
Matt
