Newest Member of the dreaded hawk attack club

[ThinMintTheChicken]

I can totally relate to the urge to shoot that hawk. Yeah, stifle the urge to kill it, but you can get close as you can and let loose with a loud round over its head. Sudden loud noise can often deter a hawk. Repeat the close-by gun noise, and perhaps the hawk will seek a more peaceful environment.

BBs may not kill, but they can cause sickness and eventually organ failure as the BBs circulate through the hawk's body. I know this because I had a good friend whose cat became sick, they took her to the vet, and the vet found BBs in the poor cat's organs. A crabby neighbor from their previous neighborhood had been shooting their cat for years before they moved away. BBs are not harmless. They often don't just bounce off the animal.

I use air horns

 

[HeatherKellyB]

What's crazy is that I was feeding a pretty good sized murder of crows that patrolled the area throughout the day. I've watched them harass a hawk on numerous occasions, forcing it to leave.

Side note ~I recently discovered that I LOVE birdwatching! ~

I stopped feeding the crows a couple of weeks ago because of this HPAI. I'll never know if this is the cause of this hawk hanging around and attacking Zeon. I do know that the hawks still patrol this area somewhat, but it's definitely not anything like it was. I guess I need to weigh my options. It seems like my local mafia (the crows) don't work for free

Zeon is looking more bright today. I brought another rooster in the shop to observe Zeon's reaction. He is already acting scrappy with a rooster much larger, but in a cage. Whenever I picked Zeon up, he acted like he was sore. There is still swelling around his eye but the eye itself looks nice and bright. I'm not sure if I should continue the eye ointment or not. I can't imagine it will hurt anything to continue it but he sure does hate it. That should help the eyelid damage but it looks significantly better.

Yeah, BB's are bad news. Once my Dad recovers from his kidney transplant, he wants to teach her to shoot a 22. Until then, I need to find a safer alternative for her BB gun. I hate to hear that about your neighbors cat. I'm sure she felt like filling the neighbor with BB's. I watched a show about raptors that had eaten animals that had some kind of lead in them and the damage caused from that. It was really heartbreaking. I know I've read threads here on BYC about chickens possibly ingesting BB's they found while free ranging. It's really sad all around. I think I will try to deter the hawk with a shot near it. I haven't seen it back so far but we all know they come back. I keep reading about the shiny cd's and it's so confusing. I guess it's just some folks have better luck than others

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I would continue with the ointment around and a little in the eye to keep the facial tissue moisturized.
He's gonna be sore for several days.
Glad he's on the mend.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I just took this picture of Zeon. Does this amount of swelling seem abnormal for 2nd day after hawk attack? @azygous @Eggcessive @Wyorp Rock

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I was finally able to get a picture of his back where the hawks talons got him. These places did not bleed. It was like the top layers (very thin layer - its not deep at all) of skin were scraped. He lost a lot of feathers so I imagine he doesn't have much protection if he experienced another hawk attack.

It seems like he feels kinda warm to me. As some of you know I have a tendency to go on high alert anytime something happens, so it could be me.
Edited to add : I did check all the way down on these scraps and all around looking for any other wounds but didn't notice anything

 

[HeatherKellyB]

He just ate some of his Flock Raiser Pellets by himself, without any encouragement from me Still has a little bit of high stepping, but I'm anxious to see if that improves. He didn't eat much but he was shaking off the human (from me holding him) which I haven't seen him do since the attack. Now he's enjoying some water. So things seem to be improving. I'm just worried about him being warm (maybe it's the lack of feathers? Or because he's been staying inside and he's not used to that) and the swelling around his eye. He's even wiping his beak on his roost and trying to clean it off while chatting to it. I'm starting to see glimpses of Zeon again but he's just not as confident as he was. He's always been one that feeds off of my energy, so that could be part of the problem too.....

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Swelling often continues for two or three days before it begins to start going down. Did you ever notice when you get a bruise that it gets more and more colorful for several days before it starts to fade?

 

[Eggcessive]

I think all in all he looks pretty well for being attached by a hawk. The swelling should go down in the next days. Chicken temperatures can normally range between 103 and 107, so he may feel warm.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Does this amount of swelling seem abnormal for 2nd day after hawk attack?

It seems like he feels kinda warm to me.

Swelling doesn't look abnormal for just the second day.
Chickens always feel warmer than us, their body temp is higher than ours.
It's going to take him a few days to get over the soreness.
Him eating/drinking on his own, perching, etc. etc. I think he's going to do ok.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

Zeon has been sleeping in a large wire dog crate inside my shop. My Serama hen has been sleeping in the shop with him, but she's able to come and go as she pleases throughout my shop, but not in his crate. This morning I found Marionette hanging out beside his crate and he was off his roost dancing for her. He is up and down from his roost a lot this morning. He looks to be feeling a bit better. He even has that tall confident rooster posture again