donteatbees
Songster
- May 20, 2024
- 70
- 256
- 106
I have a white leghorn and she has gotten attacked by a hawk twice. The first time I stopped the hawk before it could hurt her by chasing it away while screaming. I'm not sure what saved her the second time, either the roosters, the livestock guardian dog, pure luck or a combination of those things.
But she is now very stressed and doesn't leave the coop (which only happens with someone standing with them now) and her feathers got damaged and plucked pretty short in some spots.
All her bigger tail feathers got cut up and then they fell out after a few days. She let's me touch her a little bit, where she never used to be okay with it at all, though she still runs away after a second.
I'm not sure if her egg laying is slowing down from both the trauma and it getting colder and being locked up (the lighting in the coop isn't the best so I'm not sure if it is enough light to help them) or if the trauma has nothing to do with it. I have two leghorns so I'm unsure who lays what eggs unless I get two.
Her wattles are also looking a bit shriveled so I'm worried she's not been leaving her roost to drink water, which would also most likely mean she's not eating.
How do I get her to eat and drink? And is there anything I can give her to relieve the stress? She has no noticeable injuries and I did take a good look at her since she was kind enough to let me look at and move her wings to look for injuries and also let me look at her tail and damaged feathers.
It's been a week since the first attack, and two or three days since the second which is when she started acting odd. It's probably just stress (it's happened before), but I've lost too many chickens this year to risk it. And I don't want to take her to a vet because it'll cause more stress since she's already not a people chicken... or an any other animal chicken. Also vets are expensive and I need to be able to afford college next semester
Thank you in advance for any help/suggestions!
But she is now very stressed and doesn't leave the coop (which only happens with someone standing with them now) and her feathers got damaged and plucked pretty short in some spots.
All her bigger tail feathers got cut up and then they fell out after a few days. She let's me touch her a little bit, where she never used to be okay with it at all, though she still runs away after a second.
I'm not sure if her egg laying is slowing down from both the trauma and it getting colder and being locked up (the lighting in the coop isn't the best so I'm not sure if it is enough light to help them) or if the trauma has nothing to do with it. I have two leghorns so I'm unsure who lays what eggs unless I get two.
Her wattles are also looking a bit shriveled so I'm worried she's not been leaving her roost to drink water, which would also most likely mean she's not eating.
How do I get her to eat and drink? And is there anything I can give her to relieve the stress? She has no noticeable injuries and I did take a good look at her since she was kind enough to let me look at and move her wings to look for injuries and also let me look at her tail and damaged feathers.
It's been a week since the first attack, and two or three days since the second which is when she started acting odd. It's probably just stress (it's happened before), but I've lost too many chickens this year to risk it. And I don't want to take her to a vet because it'll cause more stress since she's already not a people chicken... or an any other animal chicken. Also vets are expensive and I need to be able to afford college next semester
Thank you in advance for any help/suggestions!