Please help - blood from 3 chickens so far

[davekrista]

I went in to bring fresh water for our girls and saw blood outside and in the shed. I went in and got my husband to help me find out where it was coming from. It was quite a bit. One of the chickens was on the perch and there was blood on her foot, and also looked like some on her neck. Also found a couple others with blood coming from their feet. We looked around and can't find anything inside or outside that would have cut them. Any ideas? Could it be the cold? Should I do anything or put anything on their feet to avoid infection? This is the first time something has happened since we've had chickens I have no clue how to take care of it. Please help with advice.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

How cold has it been there at night?

Do you have any crusty ice that could have snagged or cut their foot?


What type of roost do the birds have and how large of a diameter does it have? Sometimes the roost is too small for the bird to cover their feet well enough to keep them warm - also a metal pole for roosting will freeze feet in winter.


Cold can dry out and crack their feet.


If the blood is not flowing, I just wipe the bird down and then observe them.

 

[Suzie]

So sorry to hear of this happening - maybe there is some sharp object around that all of your girls have been treading on. I

know it doesn't explain anything and also as you mentioned, one of them had blood on her neck - sounds like a predator, rats, cat, hawk?

If you have an antibiotic powder - put some on the obvious injuries. failing that maybe a saline ( salt water ) solution will help them initially - sorry I don't have the experience to help further - good luck!

No doubt somebody on the site will have a better idea of how to help them!

Suzie

 

[davekrista]

Quote:
We don't have any visible ice, and at night it has been getting into the teens here in MA. We don't have snow or ice. We got them a heated water bowl so no ice from that either. Their roost is made out of a 2x4 and they have had it since last april and haven't had any issues with it (yet.lol) I try to keep them in the coop, which is plenty big enough as it was a shed we converted for them, but they insist on going outside. Maybe the cold hard dirt gets too cold on their feet? Any suggestions how they can go outside and not hurt their feet? Maybe shavings or something to cover the dirt? The blood on the chickens neck that I saw, i can't tell if maybe she brought her foot up to her neck and it came from her foot, becuase i can't find any cuts or source of blood from that area, so I'm not sure.... I just want to make them more comfortable, I know when my feet get dried and crack to the bloody point, it hurts.....

 

[Judy]

I see no reason why you shouldn't let them outside, if you don't see massive injuries to their feet. Chickens go out in ice and snow all the time.

I have no experience with anything like this, but it reminded me of a recent thread about unexplained blood in the coop. It was felt they had a disease, ILT.

Here is a link:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=430751

 

[Miss Lydia]

Could they actually be pecking on each others feet? I don't know seems like this time of the year theres more crazy stuff like this happening. If you have blue kote spray it on the wounds it will help to heal and also cover the blood which will draw them to it and they could make it much worse.

 

[davekrista]

Quote:
Thanks for the link. I did read through it and I feel pretty confident that ILT isn't what the problem is. The egg production is actually up for us which confuses me becuase I thought it was supposed to slow down when it got cold. And you can see the blood coming from the feet. Tomorrow while my kids are at school I am going to try to figure out whats going on. There is only so much I can do with the kids around. Chickens seem pretty comfy right now but will look further tomorrow to see what I can figure out.

 

[davekrista]

Quote:
I don't have any blue kote, where can I get it? Like a place where I buy their feed maybe? I didn't know they would be attracted to the blood. Thanks I will keep a close eye on it so they won't make it worse.

 

[Judy]

I think some feed stores have it but mine doesn't, they never heard if it. I can get it at TSC.

 

[Miss Lydia]

My feed store never heard of it either, bought mine at TRS.