Need help with survivor of hawk attack

[BarredRockMom]

Oh man, this is good news! I am SO glad to hear that he is feeling & doing so much better.
But keep after those fly eggs, they're miserable buggers! )After my one experience, we do regular bum & body checks...even for the squirmy ones who object & protest loudly. I've also headed off a lot of mite problems that way, too.)

Keep us posted, but it sounds like your boy is well on his way back to health.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have fluffy butt hens so I am a reg butt checker too.

 

[KittyIsQuackers]

Dragon is doing so very well, he hasn’t been waterproofing himself very well, but he’s cleaned off the wound so well that it isn’t visible anymore. He’s eating a little more, I believe. I let him out with the rest of the flock and he’s acting as if he were never injured. They’re hanging out is the stream, which is thin enough to jump across and deep enough for them to swim. Dragon is also much more alert than before, and it doesn’t look like infection has much of a chance.

 

[Miss Lydia]

No more fly eggs on the feathers?

That is great news!!!

 

[harmonymw]

Dragon is the goodest boy.

 

[KittyIsQuackers]

No more fly eggs on the feathers?

That is great news!!!

No more fly eggs!!

Dragon is the goodest boy.

Yes. Dragon is very good boy. And at this point, you can’t tell he was/is injured (I’ve been putting bite-sized plantain pieces in the kiddy pool and I’m not sure how fast ducks heal).

 

[CrystaBub]

No more fly eggs!!


Yes. Dragon is very good boy. And at this point, you can’t tell he was/is injured (I’ve been putting bite-sized plantain pieces in the kiddy pool and I’m not sure how fast ducks heal).

Wow! I’m so happy for you!! Nice job helping him get back to healthy.

And nice job BYC team on all the good advice here! What a great group!!!

 

[KittyIsQuackers]

This morning, I was about to walk by the duck coop (there was tall grass so I couldn’t see them and make sure they were alright without being right next to the fence), when I heard squawking. Not the startled “Gah! Fast moving animal!,” but the “WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE GO YOUR OWN WAY HOPEFULLY ONE OF US SURVIVE” squawking. Turns out, they were alright and absolutely nothing seemed to be disturbing them. Dragon was hiding in some vines next to the stream while the rest were in the duck coop. The ducks usually are together, but the last day or two I’ve been finding Dragon in the stream and the other in the duck coop. After I knew they were alright and but a cleaned the cut I got from tripping on my way to the duck coop, I sat by them for maybe fifteen minutes after, and Dragon panicked twice during that time. They were all grooming next to the duck coop. It wasn’t an animal that startled him as my cat and dog have laid beside them and have taught the ducks that they're friendly, and he was looking down so he didn’t see a hawk. The other two ducks didn’t see anything and were doing the squawk that they do when they hear a fellow duck panicking. The second time he panicked, he was shaking his head like a toddler reacting violently to eating a lemon. He wasn’t injured, he can see out of both eyes, and the other two were very relaxed. Anybody know why he panicked? Is it related to his prior attack? Was he just somehow frightened by his shadow? Or is it something else?

 

[Miss Lydia]

He most likely has PTSD I can understand why. Any shadow probably makes him think he is under attack. Given time it may get better but I am thinking he'll always have this to an extent. I am pretty sure I would. Poor thing went through awful trauma and lived that in itself is pretty amazing.

 

[KittyIsQuackers]

He most likely has PTSD I can understand why. Any shadow probably makes him think he is under attack. Given time it may get better but I am thinking he'll always have this to an extent. I am pretty sure I would. Poor thing went through awful trauma and lived that in itself is pretty amazing.

Yes, PTSD would be a logical explanation, although yesterday and he just... stopped squawking and everything was fine. He even sat on my back when I laid down on the grass next to them, which is one of the calmest things he’s done while being within a few feet of me. Why did he stop suddenly? Did I somehow not see a snake or snapping turtle? This is quite weird.