*pictures*Bloody vents and head spot

[SlipsWife]

What is going on?! Everything was fine until about the last week. We brought a rooster back in, he was one we sold a couple of years ago. He's calm, doesn't breed the girls in front of us so how hard he is on them I don't know. He's healthy, nothing apparently wrong with him. We had 16 pullets/hens (6-18 months) before bringing him in and we were getting 10-16 eggs a day. We are now getting 4-8. No obvious molting. 10x15 run, 8x12 coop, free range 1-2 hours a day.

We had to cull one girl a week ago, puss coming from her vent, she had been picked on by the others since her molt, she wasn't in the best shape but I didn't know who to safely separate her with. Everyone else appeared fine until we culled her, then we started noticing blood on eggs. I check them and noticed a couple with bloody vents/scabs. No mites, no obvious pests and I noticed the girl with the head sore. Blue koted all icky bums and head. Added wazine to water. No smell or reason to believe anyone has any infections at this time, just bleeding and scabs.

Could the rooster's spurs cause damage in this area?
Are they doing it to each other because the pecking order is thrown off?
Shouldn't a rooster stop them from hurting each other?
Is it parasites I can't see?
Is the head injury possibly from the rooster but the vents from something else or are the two related? (She could possibly have injured herself by some wire we have around the bottom to keep them from sticking their heads out and dogs getting them).
Is something (rodent?) getting them at nitght? They all roost on the top bar, I guess someone could go to the lower bar to peck but I haven't seen it.

I took out the two worse ones tonight (head spot and really bad vent). I would say 6 have some sort of injury, most are healing. Some are perfectly fine.

What do I need to treat with? Fungal spray? Parasite treatment?

 

[coach723]

Sorry no one has answered you.
A couple of thoughts....if all of this really started with the addition of a rooster, then I'd separate him back out, at least temporarily.
I would separate all injured birds until they are healed up. I would use veterycin wound and skin care spray, and keep everything as clean as possible, and monitor for any signs of infection.
You can also use plain neosporin ointment (no pain killer).
They will have to be kept separated to prevent more pecking of the wounds. The head wound looks very much like it could be rooster damage. Rooster damage is commonly on the back/shoulder area, and back of the head.
The vent wounds look like pecking which is probably from being over crowded and then stressed by the addition of the rooster.
Your coop size is adequate for 17 birds, but the run is not really if that is where they spend much of their time. Adding a randy roo probably tipped the scales.
The more space you give them to get away from each other, and the roo, the less likely you will be to see injuries like this. I would either make the run larger, or allow them to free-range much more, or both.
I would go much slower in introducing the rooster. I would put him in a 'see but don't touch' status for a while, either with a crate or divided run. I use parallel runs when introducing new birds, with fencing between. This can be temporary as long as it's secure. Then allow him out with them for short periods while you observe, to see how it goes. And make sure they have adequate space to escape him. The entire pecking order is going to take some time to reset, and it takes as long as it takes. Adding any new birds to a flock causes stress, and it can manifest itself in this way, especially if there is not enough space.
Hope you are able to resolve it all and restore peace to the coop! Sincerely best of luck.

 

[SlipsWife]

Sorry no one has answered you.
A couple of thoughts....if all of this really started with the addition of a rooster, then I'd separate him back out, at least temporarily.
I would separate all injured birds until they are healed up. I would use veterycin wound and skin care spray, and keep everything as clean as possible, and monitor for any signs of infection.
You can also use plain neosporin ointment (no pain killer).
They will have to be kept separated to prevent more pecking of the wounds. The head wound looks very much like it could be rooster damage. Rooster damage is commonly on the back/shoulder area, and back of the head.
The vent wounds look like pecking which is probably from being over crowded and then stressed by the addition of the rooster.
Your coop size is adequate for 17 birds, but the run is not really if that is where they spend much of their time. Adding a randy roo probably tipped the scales.
The more space you give them to get away from each other, and the roo, the less likely you will be to see injuries like this. I would either make the run larger, or allow them to free-range much more, or both.
I would go much slower in introducing the rooster. I would put him in a 'see but don't touch' status for a while, either with a crate or divided run. I use parallel runs when introducing new birds, with fencing between. This can be temporary as long as it's secure. Then allow him out with them for short periods while you observe, to see how it goes. And make sure they have adequate space to escape him. The entire pecking order is going to take some time to reset, and it takes as long as it takes. Adding any new birds to a flock causes stress, and it can manifest itself in this way, especially if there is not enough space.
Hope you are able to resolve it all and restore peace to the coop! Sincerely best of luck.

Thank you! I can't believe I didn't think of vetecyrin, I use it for my dogs and have a new bottle.

The coop/run are kind of one, the side that the coop attaches to the run is about a 3 x 6 foot opening (the run that attaches on that side is 10 foot) so they have access to the entire area at once. I don't 'think' it's a crowding issue from watching them, at least not before bringing in the rooster but obviously something is going on. It's crazy because things seem calm, the only time you hear anything out of them is when someone is taking to long to lay and a couple of the girls like to 'scream' at them to hurry (even with other nesting areas available).

I'm wondering if someone is starting to vent pick at night. I'm going to remove the second nesting bar so no one can get to them while roosting at night. I think there's plenty of room for everyone on the top bar, especially with the injured in their own coop.

Thank you again!