drops of blood under the roost-UPDATE

[earthy_chicks]

I'm not sure if this is an emergency but from everything I've read on here chickens go fast so I just want to make sure I'm not missing something important.

I introduced 4 new pullets and rehomed 3 cockerels this past week so now I have a total of 7 pullets, ages range from 7-11 weeks. The pecking order has been shaken up of course but things are cooling down. One of them seems a bit depressed, pulling out a few feathers and hanging out in the henhouse by itself. She is the 11 week-old.

Today when I went out the coop there were drops of blood in the henhouse under the roost and tracked over the roosting pole and some of the shavings on the floor. I checked all the birds all over and can't find a thing! This is the second time I've seen this. I'm totally confused. I don't think it's from them pecking because then I would see it on their bodies, right? So I'm thinking coming out with their poop? But its not bloody stools either. It is like drops of blood. Otherwise all the birds are eating, drinking and active.

What should I do? or what should I be looking for? Thank you so much for any help you can offer.

 

[chicknmania]

I would watch them carefully because there is a virus which can involve bleeding in the respiratory system, and they can cough up blood. It's called ILT (Infectious Laryngeo Tracheitis). Symptoms, of course, include sneezing, coughing, and raling (weird breathing), eye discharge and swelling, runny nose, as well as, acting a bit depressed, as they don't feel well. It is a tricky one because, though treatable, if you don't start treating it immediately it will spread through the flock and will quickly kill the birds; they don't seem very ill at first, then all of a sudden they are. I'm not saying that's what it is, but if the bird's acting like that, it could be. Watch for those symptoms and if you see them consistently, you would need to confirm it if you can (best done with biopsy of a dead bird) and then treat with antibiotics (even though it's a virus) and vaccinate them. The vaccine is not expensive and pretty easy to administer as it's an eyedrop. The vaccine, in some weird way, helps them to develop an immunity, and they recover, unless they're really far gone. There are other things it could be too but that's one thing I'm familiar with where there may be unexplained bleeding. I hate isolating one bird cause I think it stresses them out more and it's hard for them to rejoin the flock later, but you might want to think about isolating the one that's acting strangely.

 

[chicknmania]

Sorry, I said biopsy, I meant necropsy.

 

[earthy_chicks]

O.k. so I have been monitoring them closely. No sneezing, no runny noses. But I finally found the one with just a bit of blood on her foot near the nail (it was not the chicken that is hanging out in the henhouse depressed). It looks like there might be a slight cut on her toe but totally minor. Will a chicken bleed enough to have about 5-6 drops from just a tiny cut? Any other ideas or warning signs I should be looking for? Thanks for the input.

 

[MTchick]

I was going to suggest broken toenail! They sometimes will bleed profusely from a chipped toenail until it gets dust on it- so maybe your sad hen panicked, broke a nail, and then went into the pine shavings and it clotted from the dust.

When my chicks were little I was horrified to see blood all over their perch one day. Turns out one of my Polish had chipped the edge of her nail and then paced up and down on the perch, by the looks of it. She was fine- I was traumatized.

-MTchick

 

[earthy_chicks]

When my chicks were little I was horrified to see blood all over their perch one day. Turns out one of my Polish had chipped the edge of her nail and then paced up and down on the perch, by the looks of it. She was fine- I was traumatized

.
totally! Thanks MTchick.​

 

[chicknmania]

What a relief for you! Sounds like that's what it was.