Newest Member of the dreaded hawk attack club

[BigBlueHen53]

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

Hooray! How's his eye?

 

[HeatherKellyB]

Hooray! How's his eye?

Thank you for asking He still has swelling around the eye, but it seems more bright today, if that makes sense. I am very excited with the way he's acting and eating today. I'm in central NC and wondering how he's going to do in the cold (cold for us) whenever he goes back outside. I need to get a picture of him but he lost A LOT of feathers. A bunch of feathers in your hand with it balled up doesn't seem like many, but I was unable to hold them all in one hand and I didn't collect the down. He really lost a lot of feathers. It won't be a problem to let him sleep indoors, if necessary. Our temps are really all over the place. Like today was around 54°F and tonight it's going to be 28°F. He's not going out tonight but I'm thinking ahead. I'll definitely get a picture tomorrow but that will just show that he lost all but 1 tail feather.

 

[AmyJane725]

Hello dear,

I appreciated your company on my board, and was sad to see you now have one of your own. Zeon is SO cute! What an adorable face! He and Ildi could be prom king and queen

I'm not an expert, but I think he's gonna be just fine. Waddle/comb injuries are pretty common, and chickens seem to take them in stride. I've seen boards where chickens have had their entire combs ripped off at the base and they've lived. I also know people cut chunks off of combs and wattles for show purposes ("dubbing" I think it's called), and I've seen roosters lose large parts of their wattles to frost bite and end up ok, so they definitely can survive it.

Birds of prey are pretty dirty though, so just making sure he doesn't get an infection would be my #1 concern. Keep up with the ointment/cleaning. Since this only just happened I wouldn't stress about the amount of swelling. I'd imagine it'll be a week or two before he's looking normal again.

If you're concerned about his temperature you could take a digital oral thermometer and gently insert it into his vent and wait for it to beep to see where he is. Normal adult chicken body temperature is between 105°F and 107°F so it's normal for him to feel hotter than a human. His swollen/injured areas will probably be hotter than the rest of him as well, since they are inflamed.

I hope he continues to improve and that you keep us posted.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I just noticed a hawk, probably the same one, as it landed on the same branch and sat there just watching. Ugh! I hate a hawk! The geese keep alerting so I'm sure it's still around here somewhere. I guess chickens having a shorter attention span isn't their strong trait..... I guess it's a good thing the boys are still up, although not happy about it. Of course I didn't have my gun to fire a warning shot. I need to find a holster to keep it with me

Edited to add: Not to shoot the hawk, but to fire a warning shot (not at it) in hopes of encouraging it to move along to hunt in peace.

 

[Eggcessive]

We have dealt with red tail hawks here for the 11 years that we have had chickens. We have had friends suggest shooting them, but they are protected by federal laws, and have been for almost a hundred years, as are the other birds of prey. It used to be a 6 month jail term and $20,000 fine for shooting one, so not something that should be done. We have tried to fire guns to scare them and they just sit in their tree and look at us. We had the best luck with planting evergreen trees in our chicken yard, and the chickens love to congregate under them for shade, rest, while some like to roost on branches. Our rooster was very good at making the alarm call and gathering them under the tree. Our poor polish hen never seemed to get it, and she eventually was decapitated when 2 hawks ganged up on her. I don’t blame the hawks, as we have lost some others over the year to daytime predators. Recently we lost 3 old hens, including my favorite bantam pet, to a bobcat in midday. They always loved to free range in our fields, but when my last birds are gone, I may just raise a new flock in a fenced in and covered run. I love to see them free range, but we must understand that we may lose some if they free range.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

We have dealt with red tail hawks here for the 11 years that we have had chickens. We have had friends suggest shooting them, but they are protected by federal laws, and have been for almost a hundred years, as are the other birds of prey. It used to be a 6 month jail term and $20,000 fine for shooting one, so not something that should be done. We have tried to fire guns to scare them and they just sit in their tree and look at us. We had the best luck with planting evergreen trees in our chicken yard, and the chickens love to congregate under them for shade, rest, while some like to roost on branches. Our rooster was very good at making the alarm call and gathering them under the tree. Our poor polish hen never seemed to get it, and she eventually was decapitated when 2 hawks ganged up on her. I don’t blame the hawks, as we have lost some others over the year to daytime predators. Recently we lost 3 old hens, including my favorite bantam pet, to a bobcat in midday. They always loved to free range in our fields, but when my last birds are gone, I may just raise a new flock in a fenced in and covered run. I love to see them free range, but we must understand that we may lose some if they free range.

Oh no, I'm not going to shoot it but fire a warning shot to encourage it to move along. I definitely don't want to spend any time in jail or pay the government more money than the usual per month. I should have clarified that better. My apologies

I really like what you've done and hope to find a way to implement the large tree, at least for cover for my free ranging roosters. I've wanted to move all of the coops and runs to an area deeper in the forest. Nothing is going to keep them alive forever. All in all, it boils down to me having too many roosters, so it's really on me. I guess it's just human nature that I look for ways to make things easier physically and emotionally

 

[HeatherKellyB]

Oh my gosh! This damn hawk is determined!!! I am working and heard the birds screaming, so I came out and saw the a$$hole sitting on the ground beside the coop that my Svarthöna hen is in. The drinker was spilled out and their bowl of mash moved. Zelda is a scrappy girl so I don't know if she tried to fight the hawk from in the coop or just running about she ran into the welded wire (same size as hardware cloth), she has a cut right where her beak and face come together. I am so mad right now. I wonder if the hawk thinks she is Zeon and is wanting to finish the job. Maybe it thinks it's him and he'd be an easy target? I don't know. Maybe it's just looking for something to eat. This thing is about the size of a crow. I am just so frustrated

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Sorry for the stress. Just try to keep the chickens protected and/or under cover for a week or so. If the hawk sees no opportunity, it will move on. The hawk does not care which chicken is gets, they are all food.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

Zelda is eating and drinking on her own without issue, so hopefully she's OK.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

Sorry for the stress. Just try to keep the chickens protected and/or under cover for a week or so. If the hawk sees no opportunity, it will move on. The hawk does not care which chicken is gets, they are all food.

Thank you. I think Zelda could have hurt herself. She's not lost any feathers, other than slightly molting. She must have just freaked out and didn't think to go up the ramp to the coop. I don't know. She just has a bloody beak and was freaked out and frozen when I grabbed her from the coop. Everyone is going to be staying up for at least a few more days