Attempted Hawk Attack - Missing Chicken

[NextDoorChicken]

Hi - just subscribed, pretty upset. Our backyard flock of easter-eggers is 10 months old. Husband let the girls outside to roam, leaving small door to the pen open. He says he left them for only 5 minutes, came back out and heard them upset inside the pen - he goes to the pen and there is a hawk inside, clinging to the wall (he thought it was a chicken at first!). He goes inside and the hawk flies out the small door. He said the hawk (red tail) did not have a chicken, and he watched it fly off and perch a few houses down. But afterwards, he could not find one of the chickens.

We looked and looked for an hour, assuming she must have run off. It may be possible the hawk came back and got her in the time he came inside and told me? A hawk wouldn't stash a chicken (or drop it) and then come back and try for another in a matter of minutes would it?
Odds she survived? Frustrating, not knowing.

 

[centrarchid]

Chicken is likely hiding under or in something. Will come out to roost.

 

[Zoomie]

The hawk would not be able to pick up your chicken. Even if it was a female red tail (they are bigger than the males) she weighs about 3 pounds. So I agree with @centrarchid that your hen is simply very well hidden, terrified, and will eventually come back out.

 

[NextDoorChicken]

Checked again just before dark, still no sign. I'll be truly amazed if we find her.

 

[centrarchid]

If chicken taken, then likely it occurred before you noticed hawk visit. I would go out with flashlite and look for missing bird now.

 

[NextDoorChicken]

No luck this morning either. Thinking maybe there was a 2nd hawk? Never seen two at a time, but do hawks ever work together? Or maybe something else took advantage of the situation. But no feathers, nothing.

 

[dogkahuna]

She may still be hiding. I had a hen hide for two days before returning. I don't believe hawks hunt in tandem.

 

[aart]

She could still be hiding...or lost...or succumbed to hawk injury.....or something else got her.

 

[Zoomie]

There is one type of hawk that does hunt in groups: the Harris Hawk, however they are a hawk of the southern most south west, and not abundant even there, so it's not usually worth bringing up unless the person lives in the area from Mexico down to Chile. One *can* see them in AZ and NM and TX, but again, only in the southern parts of these states. Therefore, yes, hawks don't hunt in packs, they are solitary hunters. With that one exception.

Hard to say with this hen. It's very hard not to know, but she may still turn up, and here is hoping that she does.

 

[NextDoorChicken]

She's been found! - several houses down, neighbor saw her sitting on a window ledge. Appears unharmed.

Very happy!