I'm getting really fed up with these hawks.
We've had a hawk do a couple fly overs the last week. Yesterday we came home and he was sitting on the fence that separates our backyard and the chicken's free range area. The dogs were out and he didn't care one bit. The flock was free ranging but he had his back to him and all chickens were accounted for. DH shot a pellet gun near him to scare him off. Today Wolf was standing at the sink, looked up, and saw the hawk sitting on top of their enclosed area. DH couldn't shoot that direction due to things in the background so I went out there to scare him off. I got pretty close before he finally flew away! The chickens were free ranging but I couldn't see any of them as I walked over. I could hear a little one squawking though so I went out to do a head count just to make sure. A bunch were under the tack room so I couldn't see everyone. I checked on the month olds because I figure they'd be the best target. Luckily all but one was safely in the enclosed area. The one that was squawking was only doing so because she couldn't find her friends. I was about to walk away and noticed the gate to the extra area we have was open so I thought I'd better check in there too. In the corner I could see a ton of feathers and what looked like parts of a chicken. All I could see was maybe a wing pressed up against the fence. My heart dropped and I didn't really want to go over to it. As I got closer I saw more feathers and blood on the rocks. When I got close I found our little Blue Laced Red Wyandotte (BLRW) tucked between a couple large rocks and the gate. Once I got over to her I could see she was at least all there, which isn't what it looked like to start. She had a bloody back but was alive and alert. I took her inside and we cleaned her up, put some antibiotic on it and wrapped her up. She is now in the hospital cage in our bathroom. The wrap has since slipped off so now she just has gauze on it. It is much less severe than our other hawk attacks. We're hopeful she'll pull through pretty quick. She is missing the skin off her back right above the tail, and has one puncture on the thigh.
I'm sorry about the hawks going after your chickens...I hope your injured one heals quickly and well.
ReplyDeleteHawks are always a concern here too. Where we live the chickens can't free range because the hawks (coyotes, and foxes) pick them off pretty quickly. We have a lot of the big ponderosa pines here though, and a nesting pair of red tails just to the east of us. Have you thought about putting up a plastic owl, to try and fool the hawks?