Hawk Attack

[Bluegrasschicken]

We had the scariest thing happen today and I am so worried about our beloved Polish Crested bantam Zuzanna. She has so many feathers she really can barely see and is so vulnerable. When we free range we are so careful, but obviously today was a slip up as far as being "right there"( I won't bore with the story even though I feel I need to explain!). My husband saw a red tailed hawk on top of her and ran to her and the hawk lifted her about 2 feet off the ground for 5 or so feet. Side story, but one of the silkies was running up to her as well....which just amazes me because Zuzanna is so in her own world she is nobody's friend and did not think chickens were so brave ...but anyway it was really horrible. She seems ok as far as visible injuries and I put her in the coop in the enclosed area to get over the shock. It's tricky to tell anything because so close to dusk that they are all pretty motionless inside when I check on them. It was incredibly brazen attack right in front of house with the lawn mower going. I feel very guilty and so worried about her.

 

[sourland]

Good luck with her. Keep her warm and quiet. Right now she is probably in shock. Hawks kill by impact as well as by piercing with their talons. Hopefully she was hit a glancing blow. Good luck. I have had birds taken right at my feet. ( pigeons) It happens. Hawks are migrating now, and they are hungry and bold.

 

[SegiDream]

We had the scariest thing happen today and I am so worried about our beloved Polish Crested bantam Zuzanna. She has so many feathers she really can barely see and is so vulnerable. When we free range we are so careful, but obviously today was a slip up as far as being "right there"( I won't bore with the story even though I feel I need to explain!). My husband saw a red tailed hawk on top of her and ran to her and the hawk lifted her about 2 feet off the ground for 5 or so feet. Side story, but one of the silkies was running up to her as well....which just amazes me because Zuzanna is so in her own world she is nobody's friend and did not think chickens were so brave ...but anyway it was really horrible. She seems ok as far as visible injuries and I put her in the coop in the enclosed area to get over the shock. It's tricky to tell anything because so close to dusk that they are all pretty motionless inside when I check on them. It was incredibly brazen attack right in front of house with the lawn mower going. I feel very guilty and so worried about her.

Sorry you experienced this. We experienced something similar about a month or so ago. One of our older feisty dominecker hens was grabbed by a hawk and the rooster knocked the hawk off (we assume based on evidence and what we saw immediately after), buying enough time for the hens to run for cover. She lost some feathers and was super flighty after that. The hawk came back multiple times for the next several weeks. Didn't even care if we were outside with the chickens or not. We enlarged their run area with netting over the top and we keep them in there most of the time now. I've only recently started letting them back out occasionally on bright sunny days.

I'd check her out in the morning and keep the chickens secure for the next several days to discourage another attack. Anytime they are outside of a secure area they can be a victim of a predator unfortunately

 

[Bluegrasschicken]

Is protecting very much a rooster behavior? Would a hen ever do it?