Please help!!!

[pink04]

So I'm new to raising chickens. We got 5 chickens this spring and they are about 6.5 months old now. This evening when we let our chickens out into the yard to roam one of my leghorns had blood all over her butt area. She seemed to be trying to poop but no having much success. She looks normal everywhere else and was still roaming and eating normally. I looked in the coop and didn't really see any bloody poops. There were a few drops of blood on the door where she likes to sit but that's it. Please help, I'm not sure what I should do and I couldn't get any help at the feed store. Should I treat her for cocci?
Thank you so much for your help!!

 

[Eggcessive]

I would check inside her vent an inch or so for a stuck egg first. Could she have been feather picked by the other chickens? Clean up her vent area, and make sure that she is not prolapsed, or have red vent tissue sticking outside the vent. If there is a prolapse, it is natural for the other chickens to pecka at it, and eventually they can really do some damage. Here is a link aout prolapse and what to do: http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/04/prolapse-vent-causes-treatment-graphic.html

 

[pink04]

Thank you for your reply. I don't think it's a stuck egg because she had just laid an egg. When I was looking at her I didn't notice anything coming from her vent, but I will check again today. The one big thing I noticed was the blood all down her feathers and then right after I let them out she tried to poop and I went to check it for blood but there was nothing on the ground that I could see.

 

[pink04]

Ok, so I checked on my hens this morning as soon as they got up, and I still didn't find any bloody poop in the run or in the coop, but I did find an egg that had been laid that wasn't in the nesting box and that didn't have a shell. I checked her for prolapse and her vent looked normal. Her feathers though looked the same...like she had just given child birth.

 

[Frizzlett98]

I like the way you put that. "like she had just given child birth". I thought that was so funny. If she lays an egg with no shell, she need more calcium. Oyster shell or egg shell (crumbled up beyond recognition).

 

[pink04]

That's what I was thinking, but do you think it has anything to do with the bloody bottom? None of my hens eggs have ever shown signs of soft shells in the past. It seems like all of this has happened in less than 24 hours.

 

[Frizzlett98]

I have no experience with egg layers yet, none of my hens are laying although they're supposed to by now

. But I've read a lot about egg laying but nothing with a bloody bottom except for a stuck egg or prolapse. The only thing I know about this is that she needs calcium. If she's acting normal... I don't have any clue. I'm stumped.

 

[Frizzlett98]

If she's not acting sick, puffed up feathers or huddled in a ball, I would say probably not Cocci. She's a bit old for Cocci anyway. Has there been any new chickens added to your flock?

 

[pink04]

No, we just have the original 5 that have grown up with each other. Like I said it's been less than 24 hours since I first noticed the bloody bottom, and in that time she's mostly slept since it started late yesterday so I haven't noticed any odd behavior other yesterday when she squat to poo and I didn't see any on the ground. It could have been some blood and I didn't see it. I have read that older hens can get cocci, but it's not super common. I'm not sure what to do. I would hate to do nothing and then it gets worse as fast as it came. Would it hurt to just treat them with the corid for the cocci?

 

[Frizzlett98]

No. It won't hurt to treat for Cocci. It doesn't sound much like Cocci but go ahead and treat anyway. Hopefully somebody can help you figure out, if it's not Cocci, what it is. Can you take a picture of her?