Help - mystery blood in coop and on eggs

[lefttowrite]

I have a small flock of six Australorps, almost two years old.

About two weeks ago, I started noticing some blood on a few eggs. (Photo attached.) It wasn’t a lot, but I’d never seen it before. A friend suggested since it was a minimal amount, maybe there was some pecking going on in the nesting box. It’s the end of winter and still very snowy. They’re probably bored—that seemed plausible. Everyone’s behavior and appearance has been normal, so I didn’t think much of it.

This past weekend, however, I went out to scoop poop and noticed some drops of blood on the poop board…then all along the bottom roost. (Photo of that attached as well.) It was still red but oxidized and covered with a little dust, so not super fresh. Then today, I found another egg with a speck of blood on it.

I’ve checked all but one hen’s butt (she’s hard to wrangle but I tried) and all have been normal. They sometimes scratch up glass in their run (we live on an old, old homestead) but I’ve checked everyone’s feet—normal. Poops look normal. Everyone’s eyes, combs, and behavior are normal. No one’s isolating themselves or droopy. I know chickens are great at hiding pain, though, so I’m still worried.

I’m going to try checking butts again tomorrow. Any theories, or anything else I should check? This is freaking me out and I’m about to put a camera in the coop to see if I can figure it out. I’m losing sleep over not knowing what’s going on!

P.S. I know my coop isn’t the cleanest in the world. Please don’t judge! This winter has been a lot and I have done the best I can with the time I have.

 

[cavemanrich]

I’m losing sleep over not knowing what’s going on!

I can understand your concern.
Question;; Are the blood stains on one set of eggs???? (meaning from same chicken) or on other eggs from other hens as well??
I have encountered some blood streaks on some eggs in the past. Then things corrected, and no more blood.
It can be,,,, the eggs is somewhat large,, for that hen's vent,,, and slight tearing occurs.
If hens are seemingly healthy, I think all is well. I'm also not sure there is a remedy for this blood streaks condition.


WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[cavemanrich]

I just enlarged the egg picture. Looks like 2 different hens may be affected.
Do check their vents. Also try to figure out which 2 are the ones affected. Then pay closer attention to them.

 

[DobieLover]

One: Your coop is not dirty. It looks perfectly fine.
Two: There is not a lot of blood.

To me at least, it does not look like a ruptured blood vessel from straining too hard to expel an egg.

I would look at claws/spurs/feet. I have a few hens with spurs and when they injure them, they bleed quite a bit while the hen walks around oblivious. It could be blood transfer from a hen going in the nest to lay her egg and she smears the blood from a torn nail or spur onto the eggs. Just like us, when a recently closed injury is knocked or hit again, it re-opens and starts bleeding again.

If one of your girls has a foot injury, you could dab a bit of blukote on it or spray it with an antiseptic but more often than not these types of minor injuries resolve without intervention.

 

[lefttowrite]

One: Your coop is not dirty. It looks perfectly fine.
Two: There is not a lot of blood.

To me at least, it does not look like a ruptured blood vessel from straining too hard to expel an egg.

I would look at claws/spurs/feet. I have a few hens with spurs and when they injure them, they bleed quite a bit while the hen walks around oblivious. It could be blood transfer from a hen going in the nest to lay her egg and she smears the blood from a torn nail or spur onto the eggs. Just like us, when a recently closed injury is knocked or hit again, it re-opens and starts bleeding again.

If one of your girls has a foot injury, you could dab a bit of blukote on it or spray it with an antiseptic but more often than not these types of minor injuries resolve without intervention.

Lo and behold, when I went to check butts again this morning, I noticed fresh red blood on my sleeve—my favorite hen has a broken toenail!

I may have overreacted and set up a chicken clinic in the garage where she’ll spend the day. Seems like every time I’d move her around after applying styptic powder/dabbing it clear with gauze, she’d reopen it again. Maybe spending a day in there will help it heal for real this time.

I don’t know for sure it was her nail, or if that just happened this morning, but it’s good to know that’s kind of what it looks like from the photos. I had a hunch it might be foot-related, since it looks to be tracked up and down the roost bar.