Hawk attack!!!!missing hen PLEASE help!

[CMV]

Quote:
She should be fine as long as the wound stays clean and none of the talons punctured anything vital.

I had a hen get flayed a few years back by a hawk. She lost all her skin across her back and sides- the wound was about 8 inchesX8 inches. There was more muscle exposed than skin left on the bird. Believe it or not she survived. It took months to heal, but it did eventually heal.

Keep an eye out for that hawk because it will be back. Good luck.

 

[roxyblue]

Wow, poor bird. We were VERY lucky. Right after this happened I went to Home Depot and bought quite a bit of bird mesh. I'll but some cross beams up and then staple the mesh to it...do you think the hawk could rip through this? What scares me even more is that there is more then one. At the time of the attack there was ANOTHER hawk circleing the chicken coop. The worst part is that I can do nothing about it, they are protected by the law.

-thanks everyone
-Roxy

 

[BrattishTaz]

Quote:
I don't think the bird will tear through the mesh. You just have to watch for gaps. I know Cooper's hawks can be very persistent when trying to find a way in.

 

[roxyblue]

Thanks for the reply,
I havn't seen any cooper hawks around. I know there is a nesting pair of falcons up the street from us,but I don't thing they would go after my girls. It isn't supposed to get any higher than 32 degrees out tomorrow. So that might mean that I woln't be able to get the mesh up. I have decided that they will be free rangin for the next few weeks only when I am there to whach. My neighbor (who also loves the chickens) took down there fence and let the girls free rande in their yard. Luckly the wife of the man that lives there is a in to gardening and has lots of shrups and bushes for the chickens to hind under if a hawk were to strike again.
thanks again everyone!

 

[epeloquin]

Makes me concerned. My girls' coop/run is very secure but I do let them out regularly. We have red-tailed hawks here and we have bald eagles nesting nearby too. Today we heard a hawk screech and all my girls froze and scanned the skies for a few minutes. We didn't see anything though. It is interesting how they instinctively react to the sound even though they have never seen a hawk.

 

[Mattemma]

Wow those hawks can sure do some damage.Gald she is healing well,and that you had found the other one.

 

[roxyblue]

Thank you!
A couple weeks ago I saw the first red tail that I had seen all summer circleing WAY above my coop. I heard that they get their wings tangled if you crisscross the run with string. I also offered hiding places: the empty composter, (they love it) some bushes, and of course they can run back into the coop. After this incident I have been searching the skys everytime I'm out there. I'm just glad that my girls seem to be OK now. After the attack I had all the girls safely locked in the coop while we were tryng to figure out the best thing to do with the hawk. When I opened up the coop door I noticed the first egg we have gotten in months in the nesting box. HAHA. one of the girls were "so scared" that they laid an egg.
thanks again everyone for your help!