Red Tail Hawk Attack videos

Today in NC a raptor attacked my chickens while they were outside. I couldn't tell if it was s falcon of hawk? I scared it off while it was struggling with one of the hens. The hen lost a lot of feathers and had bleeding cuts on its neck and body. Should I clean the wounds? And with what? Also, all the chickens seemed traumatized and huddled in the corner of the coup the rest of the day. Is there some way to treat chicken trauma?

So sorry mimi79704. There are lots of articles on here about how to treat wounds that you have probably found by now. I'm not expert on that as both of my attacked hens were dead [sad]. Good thing you were there to save her

If she's not hurt too bad it will probably be fine no matter what you do. They heal amazingly. I did have one where a leg band got too tight and dug into her skin. When I took it off it was all bleeding and oozy but by the time I got out there the next day to treat it, she was way better and the next day it was nearly healed. The feathers will grow back when she molts. . One of my RIRs lost a lot of feathers in the first attack but it doesn't bother her a bit.

As for the trauma, they will recover in a few days. They will always be more wary but that is a good thing. There is only one way to get hawk savvy chickens if they don't have a mother hen to teach them.

The hawk will probably return so best keep them in for a while unless you are watching, and make sure their coop/run is secure.

You are far more patient and law abiding than I am.

thomasboyle said:

Wow, the hawk is very impressive! You just need him to be impressive somewhere else!

I know you upgraded the roofing to chicken wire, just be aware that chicken wire will not stop most land predators. Dogs and raccoons have been known to rip through it to get at chickens.

Sorry for your losses.

Click to expand...

Your right I wish I hadn't used chicken wire on my run's roof. On the sides of my run I used stucco wire. It looks just like chicken wire but it is thicker and stronger, and cheaper. Its used for construction to stucco houses. I had already bought the chickenwire for the roof before I discovered this amazing stucco wire. The only predator problem I have is ground squirrels digging under my wire skirt. I tried to convince my brother, who built the coop, that we needed to put wire on the ground, but no men never listen to women.