What could have done this?

[Newblet]

A while back one of my chickens lost a bunch of feathers on her head and had some scratches. She is doing better and regrowing the feathers. Yet I'm wondering if maybe a local hawk got her, but she got away somehow. Check out the pics below.

One time I saw a hawk swoop down but took off when it saw me under the porch. That was about 5 months ago, we live in the city and hawks are rare. Anyways since her head got messed up they are very skittish and always looking up at the sky.

 

[azygous]

Hawks dive and miss their target quite often. It's happened to my flock, twice while I was very near and watching. Younger chickens are very fast and that can make it hard for a hawk to score. But if the target is an older chicken or a heavy breed, the hawk usually wins.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Yes agree very could have been glad they missed her do you have coverage for them ?

 

[Newblet]

Yes agree very could have been glad they missed her do you have coverage for them ?

Yes they have tons of coverage, they roam around my backyard. There are bushes and trees are all over. They are about a year old.

I hope that hawk misses again if it is the case. They are like dogs to me. They even jump on my lap or chair when I got outside.

 

[MountainWoman73]

Weird looking injury for a hawk attack. I don't think so. Is there a place she could have gotten her head stuck ,(in a fence or between a nest box and roost..) and then scraped herself up when she pulled free? That's my guess.

 

[hayley3]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/bald-chicken-head.1284951/#post-20770983

There's a couple of bald head threads on the website, so a few diff things you can try. Agree with MountainWoman, it doesn't look like a hawk.

 

[WthrLady]

Another chicken. And once they get started..they keep going.

 

[Gray Farms]

Do you have a rooster? Looks like classic damage from rooster breeding/overbreeding.

 

[Newblet]

No rooster, whatever it was it was just that one time she grew back feathers and is doing good.

 

[cmom]

I would have suspected other chickens pecking at her.