preppingmom
In the Brooder
- Jun 22, 2022
- 13
- 27
- 41
So, bare with me as this may sound like I am asking a stupid question.
We first got chicks last year and live on 10 acres. We lost our first hen today. As a quick background, she was molting in November in Ohio, but my hubby thought she looked more "off". He said her red things on her head looked pale (sorry, I don't even know terms and sound like a moron) I didn't see anything wrong with her. We had another hen look pretty bad while molting so I didn't see anything off.
Today, chickens were free ranging further back than they had in a while. Around 1 p.m. my son looked out back and thought he saw a vulture. I saw it and knew it was a hawk and had to have a chicken. I grabbed my boots and went out. The crows were screaming and the hawk flew away. My molting hen was clearly dead, although oddly it looked like she had flopped over and died. There was no blood and outside of some feathers being plucked out at the back of her neck, no sign of violence. She was already stiff when I picked her up with the shovel and had her eyes closed. Only her neck was not rigid. So, did a hawk just kill her with some sort of impact or quickly break her neck and then come back later to pull feathers out? How soon does an animal stiffen? Could she have flopped over and died (that may be the stupid question-sorry) and the hawk swooped down on her when she died? Obviously seeing the hawk made me think it killed her, but the evidence was strange and this is our first lost chicken.
We do have hanging metal in trees and a fake owl, but this was a bit past that area. Assuming the hawk did kill the chicken, but didn't eat it, I am guessing it will still come back and try to get another ?
Again, I apologize for my complete lack of knowledge, but I am a bit stumped by it all.
We first got chicks last year and live on 10 acres. We lost our first hen today. As a quick background, she was molting in November in Ohio, but my hubby thought she looked more "off". He said her red things on her head looked pale (sorry, I don't even know terms and sound like a moron) I didn't see anything wrong with her. We had another hen look pretty bad while molting so I didn't see anything off.
Today, chickens were free ranging further back than they had in a while. Around 1 p.m. my son looked out back and thought he saw a vulture. I saw it and knew it was a hawk and had to have a chicken. I grabbed my boots and went out. The crows were screaming and the hawk flew away. My molting hen was clearly dead, although oddly it looked like she had flopped over and died. There was no blood and outside of some feathers being plucked out at the back of her neck, no sign of violence. She was already stiff when I picked her up with the shovel and had her eyes closed. Only her neck was not rigid. So, did a hawk just kill her with some sort of impact or quickly break her neck and then come back later to pull feathers out? How soon does an animal stiffen? Could she have flopped over and died (that may be the stupid question-sorry) and the hawk swooped down on her when she died? Obviously seeing the hawk made me think it killed her, but the evidence was strange and this is our first lost chicken.
We do have hanging metal in trees and a fake owl, but this was a bit past that area. Assuming the hawk did kill the chicken, but didn't eat it, I am guessing it will still come back and try to get another ?
Again, I apologize for my complete lack of knowledge, but I am a bit stumped by it all.