- Jul 8, 2011
- 22
- 0
- 22
I'm totally new to chickens -- just got them 2 weeks ago. So in the horrible heat late yesterday afternoon, before dinner time, all 10 of my chickens (6 / 7 weeks) suddenly had a little drop of blood at the top of their beak, bottom of where the comb is developing! Actually it seemed to be a drop of blood and also some clear liquid. Was that some kind of reaction to the high temps? Any explanation for that? A danger sign of some kind, like they were about to have heat stroke or something? It didn't look like any kind of injury happened, and I didn't see how all of them could get the exact same injury, anyway. Some of them were panting, or at least holding their beaks open (which is guess is panting for a chicken?)
Also - Most of them are just beginning to get kind of pinkish/red faces in the past couple of days. I guess that's a developmental stage. So wondering if that means that they have extra blood circulating around in new capillaries in their comb/wattles areas? And so in the heat maybe they were "sweating blood"???
My instinct was just to do what I had been doing to make sure they stay as cool as possible -- Their run is in a nice shady spot. I have made sure they have plenty of cool water - and ice water in the afternoon. When I saw this weird thing develop with the blood/liquid drop on their beak/comb, I stayed with them and set out a 9x13 pan of cool water -- stood some of them in it, but they would jump out quickly! Had already misted down 1/2 of their run a couple of times earlier in the day, so did that again. They don't seem to like walking around in the mist, but once I turn it off, they do walk around in the damp part.
Except for the open beaks on some of them, they really kept acting pretty normal. I kept an eye on them in the early evening, and nothing horrible happened. Did have a fan for them once they were tucked in for the night in their roosting spot in our garage. (We should have their permanent coop home finished tomorrow - Very exciting for all of us!!!)
They all seem happy and fine this morning. But we're going to be even hotter this afternoon. I've been reading all the suggestions about how to keep them cool, and will do my best. Just want some advice about how much to panic if they start "sweating blood" again today! Any explanations? Thanks!!!
Also - Most of them are just beginning to get kind of pinkish/red faces in the past couple of days. I guess that's a developmental stage. So wondering if that means that they have extra blood circulating around in new capillaries in their comb/wattles areas? And so in the heat maybe they were "sweating blood"???
My instinct was just to do what I had been doing to make sure they stay as cool as possible -- Their run is in a nice shady spot. I have made sure they have plenty of cool water - and ice water in the afternoon. When I saw this weird thing develop with the blood/liquid drop on their beak/comb, I stayed with them and set out a 9x13 pan of cool water -- stood some of them in it, but they would jump out quickly! Had already misted down 1/2 of their run a couple of times earlier in the day, so did that again. They don't seem to like walking around in the mist, but once I turn it off, they do walk around in the damp part.
Except for the open beaks on some of them, they really kept acting pretty normal. I kept an eye on them in the early evening, and nothing horrible happened. Did have a fan for them once they were tucked in for the night in their roosting spot in our garage. (We should have their permanent coop home finished tomorrow - Very exciting for all of us!!!)
They all seem happy and fine this morning. But we're going to be even hotter this afternoon. I've been reading all the suggestions about how to keep them cool, and will do my best. Just want some advice about how much to panic if they start "sweating blood" again today! Any explanations? Thanks!!!
