Possible hawk injuries?

Over a week ago I noticed a couple of my chickens had some injuries, but, were thankfully alive.
This is the first one, a hen named Curly. The major wound (in the picture) is on her side, under her right wing. The picture doesn't quite show how bad it was, as the skin close to the front is pretty much a flap. There was a minor wound on her back, near her left wing.

The next one is a rooster, Larry. The white speck in the wound is a piece of bedding I hadn't taken off before I took the picture. The nice this about the picture, is the mirror allows you to compare the 2 sides. His lower beak seems fine, I didn't see any damage, other than the nasty hole in the flesh & swollen skin. He's actually crowing perfectly fine.

Both are by themselves, on antibiotics, & getting treated with Vetericyn. They're doing pretty good. Curly is acting much better. Larry seems bummed that he's by himself, but only 2 of my hens are laying (I don't light my flock), & since he's on antibiotics idont want them with him ..... the others aren't really, well, "ready" for him.
My question is, do these look like hawk wounds? Id really like to know what I'm dealing with.

It's a possibility but we can't really determine that unless we can see the wounds better but could it have been your rooster who got them because when a rooster mounts a hen there legs and feet set on a hens back and and if he has Spurs his Spurs could have got them when he was done and or getting on hope this helps

I doubt that if there is a hawk in the area trying to eat your chickens, it would miss its target twice in a row...They usually land on the back of the chicken and cut their throat right away...If it's an hawk, it will come back...Could it be a fight between the group?

ClaireDL said:

I doubt that if there is a hawk in the area trying to eat your chickens, it would miss its target twice in a row...They usually land on the back of the chicken and cut their throat right away...If it's an hawk, it will come back...Could it be a fight between the group?

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Hawks in my area typically land on the ground and lurk in the hedgerows and attack the chest area and then head from ground level.

Either way, i'd suggest there could be a number of possible critters taking a pop at your flock, but the location of the wounds are not consistent with the damage done by hawks in my flock.

CT

Out of my 4 roosters, only 1 has spurs - a 3 yr old brahma. The other 3 aren't old enough yet. The older one doesn't even bother with the younger 3, it's like he knows they don't matter to him, & those 3 don't attempt anything with him ..... yet. They've all been together since the younger 3 could go out. They'll have a few spats between each other, but again, they don't have spurs & they don't attempt anything with him.
I have heard owls early in the morning shortly before this happened. A few moths ago I did see a hawk make about 6 passes at a hen. He was sitting on the horse fence, & kept trying to grab her as she was running around the horses legs. Lucky for her the horses didn't freak out & step on her, & it gave me enough time to run up & chase him off the property. The chickens are in the horse barn, I turned an extra stall into a coop for them, & they completely free range during the day. The open land is mostly hilly or banked, not flat. The rest is woods. I've had fox completely take hens before. Can't picture them leaving one unless a rooster fought it off (happened once before).
I tried to get some better pictures. The hens small puncture wound on her back, near her left wing, is all healed, so I didn't take a picture of that this rooster & hen hang out a lot, I wonder if it's possible whatever tried getting 1 didn't know they were close together & injured both.

Poor thing well i would say maybe the hawk or the fox and so I would get it cleaned up with soap and water and put some triple antibiotic cream on it and it should heal

The hen is doing pretty good, even though her wound is worse. I think the roosters scab is getting ready to fall off his face. Hope to put him back with the others soon. Just wish I had a better idea of what happened, in case I can prevent it from happening again.

Well, you guys were right! Yesterday I put the hen back with the others. She picked a few fights with some of the hens (she's a cornish game with attitude, my other hens are brahmas), but seemed to do well. I separated my older rooster with the long, sharp spurs to be on the safe side. But she managed to get re-injured. Not as bad, probably since I caught it within hours, instead of it going on for days. I'm completely baffled as to how one of my younger roosters, with only half inch rounded nubs for spurs, could injure her. I know which rooster it was. I've never had a hen get injured from a rooster before, even my old guy with close to 2 inch spurs never injured one! So, now I have to decide to either get rid of the one rooster, or find her a home without roosters. :-\ :'(
I still don't know what injured my one roosters face, tho! But I was thrilled to see the resident crows chase away 2 red tails yesterday.

If it were me, I would definitely get rid of the one rooster, or, better yet, find someone that wants some chicken & noodles. I never allow a rooster with a mean attitude to ever get the chance to breed, because mean attitudes can be passed down (just like nice attitudes can), and you don't want that in your flock (or anyone else's, in my opinion).
If you use triple antibiotic on wounds like these, never use one with pain medicine in it, as chickens are very sensitive to it, and it can make them very sick (or potentially kill them).

I use vetericyn, I swear by it.

The thing with the rooster is that none of them are mean at all. They don't go after people, they're great with the hens, & they very rarely mess with each other. That's why I kept them for breeding. He hasn't injured any of the other hens, none of the roosters have. I don't want to get rid of him, keep her, then have another rooster do the same thing & be in the same position. She may just not be able to be bred.