The Mystery of the Bloody Roost

[Wendizzle]

I found this scene this morning in my coop. Most of the blood was on the roost, only drops in the bedding. All 11 hens and 1 rooster accounted for, acting normal:moving and eating fine. We checked their toenails, feet, bellies, and vents one-by-one (much to their displeasure), and couldn't see any signs of blood or injury on them. Any thoughts what this could be? A broken blood feather? It seems like so much blood for no injury or blood on their feathers.

Several of the girls are all black, so its possible we couldn't see the blood but I would think we'd see feathers that were sticky, wet, or dried with stuff on them.

Oh, and the heater hasn't been on in weeks. I just had it in there for a cold snap a few weeks ago when it was -25F.

 

[azygous]

A roost squabble where a comb gets a solid peck can produce a lot of blood. It heals up so quickly, it's very difficult to find the injury. But look carefully at the combs. The most recently injured will appear as a small black scab.

I've had three hens and a rooster all congregate in a nest box, things got touchy, and when it was all over, the nest box looked like a chicken was mauled in it. But the comb that got pecked wasn't bad enough to be obvious.

 

[Purelychicks]

When they’re “roost pecking” and peck the comb, the comb has a lot of blood vessels which will produce A lot of bleeding, but also heals up in only 4/5 hours. Because it gets scabby. Do any of their combs look inflamed/scabby?

 

[Wendizzle]

When they’re “roost pecking” and peck the comb, the comb has a lot of blood vessels which will produce A lot of bleeding, but also heals up in only 4/5 hours. Because it gets scabby. Do any of their combs look inflamed/scabby?

I didnt notice any scabs other than a little frostbite on the ends of the rooster's comb from our cold snaps weeks ago. I'll check them tomorrow and focus on the combs to see if I can find the injury. Thank you!