ArianaMcGee
In the Brooder
- May 24, 2021
- 12
- 10
- 34
This afternoon, we went out to our back pasture and I noticed a big pile of feathers the same color as one of our chickens on the ground. But all 5 of our chickens and all 4 of our ducks were visible and accounted for and looked fine at first glance.
We checked Babs, whose feathers matched, and she was her same cuddly self, except when i was finally holding her i noticed a huge wound on her side!!! It seems to be under or part of her left wing, and i can't even tell if it's a gash/puncture/ what. There was blood (although not freely running) and it just looked terrible.
We watched her for a while however, and she was acting completely normal - foraging, eating, drinking, and hanging out with the other ladies.
We've decided we will bring her in tonight, when they are all sleeping and she is a bit more docile so we can really check her out and clean the wound well. But in the meantime, we are stumped as to what could have happened.
Our ideas are: we have an indoor/outdoor cat who has always had free "access" to the girls but has never bothered them before. However, he does often hunt and bring his trophies to the garage in springtime. Maybe he suddenly snapped and went after Babs and she recognized him and that's how he was able to get her?
Could a hawk have gotten her and then she fought him off? I thought it was unlikely that she would escape a hawk attack but maybe?
Could ALL of the other ladies ganged up on her and attacked? I also found this unlikely because of the injury.
Our space is completely fenced in and they have about an acre of just free-range pasture only for them. It's not 100% predator proof by any means (we once caught a fox who either dug under or jumped over) but it's a 6ft fence that is pretty secure. At night they are locked up tight, but during the day they are free and this happened during the day.
Any ideas? Thank you so much! Apologies for the terrible pictures, i know they are not very helpful. Will try to add more of the wound itself later. It's quite hidden below her wing. Also the scene of the crime.
We checked Babs, whose feathers matched, and she was her same cuddly self, except when i was finally holding her i noticed a huge wound on her side!!! It seems to be under or part of her left wing, and i can't even tell if it's a gash/puncture/ what. There was blood (although not freely running) and it just looked terrible.
We watched her for a while however, and she was acting completely normal - foraging, eating, drinking, and hanging out with the other ladies.
We've decided we will bring her in tonight, when they are all sleeping and she is a bit more docile so we can really check her out and clean the wound well. But in the meantime, we are stumped as to what could have happened.
Our ideas are: we have an indoor/outdoor cat who has always had free "access" to the girls but has never bothered them before. However, he does often hunt and bring his trophies to the garage in springtime. Maybe he suddenly snapped and went after Babs and she recognized him and that's how he was able to get her?
Could a hawk have gotten her and then she fought him off? I thought it was unlikely that she would escape a hawk attack but maybe?
Could ALL of the other ladies ganged up on her and attacked? I also found this unlikely because of the injury.
Our space is completely fenced in and they have about an acre of just free-range pasture only for them. It's not 100% predator proof by any means (we once caught a fox who either dug under or jumped over) but it's a 6ft fence that is pretty secure. At night they are locked up tight, but during the day they are free and this happened during the day.
Any ideas? Thank you so much! Apologies for the terrible pictures, i know they are not very helpful. Will try to add more of the wound itself later. It's quite hidden below her wing. Also the scene of the crime.
