My chicks are getting bloody rear ends and dying.

[matlock585]

Hello all,
I am new to joining the forum but have read the posts for quite sometime now.
I bought a mixture of chicks from my local tractor supply co. back in the end of march. I brooded them indoors till last weekend when I moved them outside to a larger brooder with a wire floor and a pen. Everyone seemed fine through all this.
Yesterday, I got home from work and a cornish hen was slumped against the side of the pen and her whole rear end was bloody and she had lost probably 30" of intestines. Another cornish hen had the bloody rear end and all the other chicks were following her and pecking her rear. The whole flock had bloody faces.
I removed the 3 cornish hens and The original sick one died a short time later. The other two are still alive and the rest of the flock seemed fine.
I got home from work today and 2 buff orpington chicks were affected much the same. One was already dead and one had a severely bloody rear that the other chicks were pecking. I removed the sick one and put it with the 2 cornish hens and when I removed the dead one I notice that the whole entire rear end of the chicken was gone... totally not there. I could see right down in the cavity and the hole was probably the size of a dime or more.
I let the other chicks that seemed healthy out of the brooder in case it is something in there they were trapped with, but I'm confused to what it could be.
Has anyone else encountered anything like this?
Thanks for your help.
Sam

 

[suebee]

Cocci. Rush to the feed store and get CORID. Mix 1/4 teaspoon to a quart of water...fast.

Edited for typing before thinking*

 

[Southernbelle]

Unfortunately, if any chick develops a small wound and that chicks is not removed immediately, the others will peck at that spot until it is a gaping hole. Do they have access to food 24/7? That bloodthirsty behavior can get worse if they're allowed to get hungry. They'll start feather picking and if they see blood, it will get worse.

If they're having bloody poop, it might be coccidiosis.

 

[Southernbelle]

Quote:
Wazine's for roundworms. I use Corid for cocci, although you can use Sulmet, too.

 

[chickengrl]

Wow, Sam that is awful. When I first read your post, I thought it must be coccidia and they were having diarrhea. You are having a cannibalism issue. If they see blood or a wound they will keep going after it and pecking it. Are they in a big enough pen? I have read that they can start this if overcrowded. Also, what are you feeding? Low protein could be an issue.
I would take a close look at every remaining chick and pull them out if they have a bloody spot or sore anywhere. They will need to be kept away from the others. You can get BLuekote from the farm store and put that on any raw areas to keep them from going after it. It stains it blue and they don't recognize it as blood. It has antiseptic properties too. It also stains humans too, so be careful with it. Hopefully someone else will have more ideas. I hope you can get it figured out.

 

[cafarmgirl]

Welcome to BYC even though under not so pleasant circumstances!

It sounds to me like somebody in your flock has started picking and now you have a problem. Once one of them gets pecked and a bit of blood shows they will all start after the affected chick and will not stop.

How big of a space do you have them in? What are they eating? Can you spend some time observing them to see if you can figure out which one, or ones, are doing the pecking?

You'll have to see if you can get the instigator out of there, even then I'm not very optimistic since it sounds like they've all been involved. Often once they start this behavior they don't stop.

Perhaps if you can figure out if there's only one or two that start it and get them out of there you may be ok.

Edited to add: Getting them into as large a space as possible with plenty to do, dirt to scratch in, plenty of good feed, maybe some hay to scratch through, just as much as you can possibley give them to keep them busy, may help.

 

[ranchhand]

Here's where you need to be reading, hope they are cured fast.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=490082

 

[chickengrl]

Quote:
oops, think you meant to get Corid for cocci. wazine only does round worms.

 

[abubakar4u2003]

That's so sad to hear. It must be because of overcrowding of chickens. But the question is how the chickens are developing those initial wounds which other chickens notice and start pecking at??

 

[suebee]

Quote:
Wazine's for roundworms. I use Corid for cocci, although you can use Sulmet, too.

You are right...I was panicking for him when I wrote that!