Hawk attack

[Novice Farmer]

A hawk or eagle swooped down and took the entire tail off of one of my chickens last week. We found most of her tail in a clump in the yard but as she ran she also left a trail of feathers. Now her little bottom is sore and raw and very, very naked. We've isolated her but her behind is a mess. She's nowhere near molting...will her feathers grow back?

 

[chickengeorgeto]

If they were merely pulled out they should re-grow fine. Examine her tail and if you find any broken off quills or feather stubs, use a large pair of needle nose pliers to pull out the stubs of the quills. Nothing will regrow as long as the quill remains in the "feather" socket. You are not hurting your bird, you are only aiding it.

This sounds like a strange way for a hawk to go about killing a chicken. Be on the lookout for another varmint.

 

[Novice Farmer]

We didn't see it happen but since it was in the middle of the yard, in the middle of the day and we've seen hawks and eagles before (we live by a lake) and since our dog didn't hear any commotion or have any interaction with anything and since the rest of the flock ran off into the woods we just guessed it was a bird of prey. We thought maybe it was a smaller, perhaps inexperienced bird who grabbed her by the tail (by mistake) and she was heavier than anticipated perhaps dropping out of it's clutches by being plucked. Very weird. I'm new at this chicken thing. Thanks for your advice! (Love the quote at the end by the way!)