Hawk got my birds!

[McPickle88]

How old is the dog? Even LGD need to be mature before they can be trusted around fowl/animals.

He is only 5 months old! We are starting our training over!

 

[Kate the great]

Came home from dinner and one of my hens was on my deck rails at 8pm, WEIRD! I grabbed her and took to coop and realized 2 other hens were missing! I found my sweet Camilla in my shed with her back ripped off down to the meat! She is alive but badly injured. I never found Princess Leia, I am assuming she was carried off! I am hoping she is hiding but I doubt it! I took Camilla inside and cleaned her wound and put Blue Kote and sterile gauze and compression wrap around her wings. I placed in a clean kennel in sunroom with heat to rest and hopefully survive the night! I need advise to know what else to do? Has anyone had a chicken survive a severe back wound? I had my ducks killed several months ago by a hawk as well with one survivor.

I purchased inexpensive 2 inch average size ribbon from fabric store. I string that across the top of their outside pen from side to side all across. Birds of prey do not swoop down there because they can’t judge depth with the ribbons fluttering in the wind.

 

[WallyG74]

I love dogs but they can be a real pain. This one is young and you’ve got a long struggle since it has killed already.
Or at least come close to killing.

 

[WhySayWhat]

He is only 5 months old! We are starting our training over!

Unfortunately, a puppy can never be trusted with anything...even at 6 months old, their bladders aren't mature enough to be "trusted" to not have an accident.

Start looking on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace for free/cheap dog panel kits, I would pen the dog and the chickens in their own spaces. If you want the dog out while you aren't home, put the chickens away and let the dog out to roam. But, I would not let them roam together anymore. My chickens are in a large run that I built with 95% repurposed wood from my stepfather (they tore down his 13 small home made sheds and are putting in a very large factory built shop). We used 2x4 fencing that came with our house (previous owners had used it for their dogs) and purchased some as well. To keep the coop and run safe from the dogs, the entrances to both are behind a third fenced area I call the "chicken foyer". I go into the foyer, shut the gate (a large 4'x8' door), then can open the gate to the run (another large 4'x8' door...wooden frame, gate kit, and 2x4 fencing) or go into the coop (a 2-story shed that came with the house). This keeps my dogs, a chi mix that has in the past gotten into my coop and tried to eat my chickens and a Staffordshire with high prey drive, away from my chickens and keeps everyone safe from outside predators as well.

 

[McPickle88]

Here is Camilla! She is the severely injured one! He back was oozing a little this afternoon! sprayed with cleaner and put Triple Antibiotic on it and a damp gauze under her sweater. This is the 1st time she has worn it. I had to tighten after this photo. She is so little.

 

[McPickle88]

UPDATE

Princess Leia is doing sooo... good. She is starting to grow her feathers back but still has a scab on on wing where she is pecking at it. Idk how to stop that.

Camilla is doing great for what she went through. She is the one that has no skin on her back. No infection still! THANK THE LORD! She is moving around a lot more and the wound looks better. I know that it will take a long time for her to heal before we can let her go back out with her flock.

We have started on the big run at our house. We have the bones of it built, Wednesday we are going to put the poultry netting and make the door. Hopefully it will be done then. I feel back about them being in such a small run now.

 

[The WinterWolf]

any updates? did you train the dog? i would love to see leia!

 

[McPickle88]

any updates? did you train the dog? i would love to see leia!

We have built a large enclosed run and converted our shed into a large coop! Princess Leia is back with her flock but Camilla is still isolated since she was so badly injured. She is doing great though, she is healing nicely just slow. I will have to get a photo of her later. We got rid of our Rooster since he was so aggressive towards us and my kids. My hens that were together are doing the Pecking Order with Leia so I am keeping an eye on them.

 

[The WinterWolf]

We have built a large enclosed run and converted our shed into a large coop! Princess Leia is back with her flock but Camilla is still isolated since she was so badly injured. She is doing great though, she is healing nicely just slow. I will have to get a photo of her later. We got rid of our Rooster since he was so aggressive towards us and my kids. My hens that were together are doing the Pecking Order with Leia so I am keeping an eye on them.

i wish i could give you my rooster named Nuggets. he was beautiful and a sweet boy. you really should try and find a rooster like that. roosters can protect hens from hawks and some other things. i got roosters when this dog kept coming onto my property and pulling feathers from my chickens. i had 3 roosters at the time, and they scared the dog away, at the expense of their own feathers, of course.

 

[McPickle88]

i wish i could give you my rooster named Nuggets. he was beautiful and a sweet boy. you really should try and find a rooster like that. roosters can protect hens from hawks and some other things. i got roosters when this dog kept coming onto my property and pulling feathers from my chickens. i had 3 roosters at the time, and they scared the dog away, at the expense of their own feathers, of course.

I loved HeiHei! He was very sweet for a while then turned aggressive. He was constantly attacking and my son was terrified to go in our yard even when they were up