Hello everyone
Today a hawk attacked and tried at carry away my 1 1/2 year old bantam hen. She's really tiny and so very sweet. The other 5 (full size) hens freaked out and alerted us to the problem. When my spouse flung open the back door the hawk had just lifted off the ground with my bantam in its grips. I guess it was startled by a sudden human flying out the back door that it dropped my chicken and took off. She has a ton of boo boos and I want to make sure I am doing my best to care for her and the wounds. My poor baby has a small scratch across her face but its not deep. She also has an eraser sized wound on her leg. Its wide but not too deep. The skin is missing from it but the bleeding has stopped. She also has 2 small wounds under her left wing. I had a hard time getting a good look at those but I dont think they are too deep. They could be more like scratches. She also has a wound on her right wing, again its hard to tell. She is missing a TON of feathers however. So many were ripped out and broken off. Her poor right wing is almost empty of feathers
I would say at least 50% of her feathers are ripped or broken off. Probably more than 50%.
Even after this horrible ordeal she is still being very sweet and loving. She is used to us and often comes inside the house with her little diaper on. She thinks she is a house pet lol
I cleaned all her wounds with peroxide and i took a q-tip and rubbed a small amount of antibiotic ointment on them. She was very calm and didnt mind at all. She did feel warm to me as I held her to do all this. That makes me nervous. I dont know if she is normally that warm and because she is missing most of her feathers thats why I could feel her body heat?
I just want to make sure what I am doing will be alright. Should I try to clean with peroxide once a day til she heals? What about the antibiotic ointment? Can I use that on her everyday? For now she is going to stay indoors where she can sleep in a warm clean pen. Im afraid to ever put her back outside. My other major concern is her feathers, or lack there of. She has so many tiny broken shafts hanging out of her skin, dozens of them! She also has a ton of naked spots where there are no more feathers at all. Plus her right wing is mostly gone
I dont know what to do and it makes me nervous. I love my chicken, she's my baby. Thats her name, Baby. She was eating and she was talking to us so that gives me hope. She can stand and walk just fine but she is tired. I figured when I go to let her out of her mini pen in the morning I could give her some egg? She can just wear her diaper and hang out in the house indefinitely. Im nervous she will be attacked again. I dont know how these hawks do. The dirty bugger is probably hanging around stalking her for all I know. I will take some pics of the damage in the morning if anyone needs to see it to give me advice. Any ideas or suggestions on what I can do I would greatly appreciate. Especially her feather loss and damage
This is my favorite chicken. She is my pet, a member of my family and I love her and dont want anything to happen to her. Im sorry if this is a ton to read but she is very important to me and it breaks my heart she is hurt. Thank you all in advance for any help you can offer!
Today a hawk attacked and tried at carry away my 1 1/2 year old bantam hen. She's really tiny and so very sweet. The other 5 (full size) hens freaked out and alerted us to the problem. When my spouse flung open the back door the hawk had just lifted off the ground with my bantam in its grips. I guess it was startled by a sudden human flying out the back door that it dropped my chicken and took off. She has a ton of boo boos and I want to make sure I am doing my best to care for her and the wounds. My poor baby has a small scratch across her face but its not deep. She also has an eraser sized wound on her leg. Its wide but not too deep. The skin is missing from it but the bleeding has stopped. She also has 2 small wounds under her left wing. I had a hard time getting a good look at those but I dont think they are too deep. They could be more like scratches. She also has a wound on her right wing, again its hard to tell. She is missing a TON of feathers however. So many were ripped out and broken off. Her poor right wing is almost empty of feathers
I would say at least 50% of her feathers are ripped or broken off. Probably more than 50%. Even after this horrible ordeal she is still being very sweet and loving. She is used to us and often comes inside the house with her little diaper on. She thinks she is a house pet lol
I cleaned all her wounds with peroxide and i took a q-tip and rubbed a small amount of antibiotic ointment on them. She was very calm and didnt mind at all. She did feel warm to me as I held her to do all this. That makes me nervous. I dont know if she is normally that warm and because she is missing most of her feathers thats why I could feel her body heat?
I just want to make sure what I am doing will be alright. Should I try to clean with peroxide once a day til she heals? What about the antibiotic ointment? Can I use that on her everyday? For now she is going to stay indoors where she can sleep in a warm clean pen. Im afraid to ever put her back outside. My other major concern is her feathers, or lack there of. She has so many tiny broken shafts hanging out of her skin, dozens of them! She also has a ton of naked spots where there are no more feathers at all. Plus her right wing is mostly gone
I dont know what to do and it makes me nervous. I love my chicken, she's my baby. Thats her name, Baby. She was eating and she was talking to us so that gives me hope. She can stand and walk just fine but she is tired. I figured when I go to let her out of her mini pen in the morning I could give her some egg? She can just wear her diaper and hang out in the house indefinitely. Im nervous she will be attacked again. I dont know how these hawks do. The dirty bugger is probably hanging around stalking her for all I know. I will take some pics of the damage in the morning if anyone needs to see it to give me advice. Any ideas or suggestions on what I can do I would greatly appreciate. Especially her feather loss and damage
This is my favorite chicken. She is my pet, a member of my family and I love her and dont want anything to happen to her. Im sorry if this is a ton to read but she is very important to me and it breaks my heart she is hurt. Thank you all in advance for any help you can offer!
