Chicken ER

This weekend we let our chickens out to roam around the farm.  It was chilly and very windy, so they didn't venture too far out.  Most of them came out the front door of the coop, pecked around a little and then would head back in.  Saturday I let out the younger group and they seemed to enjoy it.  Sunday came and I let out the older pen.  Most of them would run out the door happy to be outside enjoying the sunshine, then once they felt the wind, the turned around and ran back inside. 

As I was outside talking to my old girls on Sunday, I noticed there were drops of blood on the floor.  I became concerned when I walked further into the coop and found even more blood on the floor.  It wasn't so much to become concerned that a predator had entered the coop, but it was enough to make me start looking over each one and try to determine the cause.  I found one chicken in the storage area with a little blood on her back like she got picked on, but it wasn't more that a couple little spots.  It wasn't gushing to the point of making drops on the floor.  I let her hang out there so she could stay away from the others and avoid more pecking.  I went back to the others that were still inside and noticed one hen's feet were very bloody.  I picked her up and noticed one of her toenails was broken and bleeding a lot.  I picked her up and immediately removed her from the coop.  I took her to the garage to get her and myself out of the wind.  I had my son bring me several tissues to help stop the bleeding.  It took a good half hour to get it to stop, or so I thought.  It started bleeding again, so I took her inside to wash her feet off and keep trying.  About an hour after I first noticed the injury, we finally got the bleeding to stop. 

After she was cleaned up and bleeding stopped, we took a couple drops of fingetnail polish and put it onto the nail to help seal up the injury.  I put her into a nesting box with clean litter and she happily sat there for the rest of the evening.  I think she enjoyed the extra pampering and the privacy of the nesting box.  I'm hoping the rest of the hens leave her alone for a day or two. 

She must have caught her toe in something in the coop.  I guess it's time to do some much needed spring cleaning in the coop again.