predator attack, either a hawk or buzzard

[SweetPeaMcD]

Earlier today I received a call from home that a large "owl-looking bird" caused some drama while I was out running errands. We looked at photos and no positive ID on whether it was a hawk or a buzzard. The bird was bold and my husband said he threw a log at the bird, not realizing that one of the birds was actually under it. When I got home, one girl was in the nesting box, three others were up in the corner of our yard, and Perry was hunkered down under our grill. The boys moved the grill and I scooped her up and put her in quarantine in the coop. Normally she would screech and run as fast as her knock-kneed legs & deformed 'thumbs' would carry her away from me. I don't see any obvious injuries other than her wings and tail drooping. She is panting and drooling and keeping one eye closed. I've put water in by her and some food, but she just wants to scooch into a corner. I read that a hawk leaves a mark on their back. Where exactly would I look for this?

I'm going to try and add photos from my phone...

 

[SweetPeaMcD]

 

[SweetPeaMcD]

 

[jaxia]

omg poor baby! i had one that my dog pulled thru the fence, no punctures or blood, but she did act very limp, closed eyes and "panting" as i called it. we are almost certain her back was broken. she hated to be held and would just sit there and all of a sudden come alert and freak out flopping herself outta my arms. im in no way an expert but it sure looks like yours is in shock of some sort. i really hope she comes out of it. im sorry i cant help more

 

[iwiw60]

She is in shock and stressed to the max...who wouldn't be? Keep her as calm as possible. You need to do a thorough look-over to locate any puncture wounds...they'll be hard to find but I'll bet she has at least one. When you do find them clean them up real good with Betadine and spray with Blu-Kote. You might put a little sugar or honey in her water to give her a boost...poor baby.

With all that said, I've said it before and I'll say it again to anyone viewing this thread....I am not an advocate of free-ranging...it's just not worth the heartache and losses. I wish you and your hurt birds all the best, please keep us updated.

 

[SweetPeaMcD]

Thanks. We've had birds since 2012 and have never had an issue with predators. Of course, there's always the first time, right? I'm sure Perry's pretty stressed and in shock; the other girls are stressed. Hershey, the dominant bird, growls when I go near the coop. I didn't want to move her much because I thought I might stress her out more. She doesn't cry out when I touch her or move her. I went back out a little bit ago to check on her and she was standing. Eleanor, who was in the coop during the attack, was over next to the divider near her. She's the one who had the nasty hole in her back quite some time ago. (One of the other birds decided Eleanor was tasty, I suppose.) Guess I'll go back and give her a thorough once-over.

 

[jaxia]

Thanks. We've had birds since 2012 and have never had an issue with predators. Of course, there's always the first time, right? I'm sure Perry's pretty stressed and in shock; the other girls are stressed. Hershey, the dominant bird, growls when I go near the coop. I didn't want to move her much because I thought I might stress her out more. She doesn't cry out when I touch her or move her. I went back out a little bit ago to check on her and she was standing. Eleanor, who was in the coop during the attack, was over next to the divider near her. She's the one who had the nasty hole in her back quite some time ago. (One of the other birds decided Eleanor was tasty, I suppose.) Guess I'll go back and give her a thorough once-over.

im sure they are still frazzled but im so glad she is up and moving around. did you find any punctures on her?

 

[SweetPeaMcD]

I don't see any other puncture wounds on her. Unfortunately it looks like her eye was injured. Only time will tell if she's going to be able to see out of it. She drank some water from a dropper without any problems. She didn't like it at first, but then I went from the side with her closed eye and she drank quite a bit. I know the girls aren't going to be happy about it, but they're going to have to stay in while we're gone tomorrow morning. Thankfully things have started to dry up here so they won't have to stay in the upstairs area and out of the rain-produced swimming area. I've got some more photos up for another line up for the family to see if they can identify the attacker. Our lot isn't very large and is surrounded by woods so it's fairly difficult for anything to swoop and grab. We'll see how she is in the morning.

 

[SweetPeaMcD]

Good sign! She's opened that eye and is eating & drinking. I put one of the other girls in with her for a few minutes and she started to eat. She was always the food police, lol! Found out more about the bird that attacked; showed hubby a photo of a buzzard and he said that was it. At first, he thought she was dead, because the bird was on top of her and she was on her back not moving. As soon as he tossed the log in their direction, she got up and hobbled away. There are a lot of feathers missing on her belly, but no puncture wounds. Since she's sort of disabled anyway, this just added to her misery. Watching to see what happens with her wings now. She still isn't putting up a fuss when I touch her, so she's definitely not back to her "BoB" self. (Bossy old Bird) The other girls have pretty much confined themselves to the coop, so I didn't have to worry about them wandering the yard yesterday. They went to their second home in the yard, which is a covered coop of sorts.

 

[iwiw60]

That's great to hear! Keep us updated!