Lost our first hen to a....................................?

[Chickenman623]

Well we lost our first hen today to a predator. No feathers anywhere..............no foreign tracks from any 4-legged critters..........no evidence of a scuffle in the dirt so my assumption is it was a quick attack from the air. We've been observing and chasing off a lot of larger hawks recently but they've looked like scavengers to me..............soaring buzzards. We've a nest of Redtail hawks within 150 yards of our chicken coop but the chicks just keep coming back to the nest every season and have never bothered any of my chickens. This is our first loss and it saddens us. Don't feel like I've done enough to protect them. There's not much I can do beyond what I have unless it's to sit in the pen with a shotgun. Don't know if a scarecrow would work. Has anyone had luck with one ???

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Sorry about your loss, but nix the shotgun idea, hawks along with other raptors are protected. Other than covering your run with protective netting there is not much you can do.

 

[Chickenman623]

Boy am I ever embarrassed !!! Just went out to pick up the eggs for the day and in the darkest corner of the coop was our missing hen struggling to breath. While I'm relieved to know I was wrong about losing her to a hawk, I'm totally perplexed to imagine what might be causing her to die. ??? I scooped her up and brought her into the house to try and "syringe" some water down her........just a few drops and maybe tempt her to take in some yogurt. She's too weak to argue. I know she is dying..........I just don't know why and I hate that. I got a cardboard box and put a bath towel in it to make her comfortable "until".

Well the only "good" to come out of this journey is knowing I don't need to panic and build a scarecrow or do anything drastic to the pens we have for the hens.

We have 5 hens left and love every single one of them. We treat them like pets and to lose one hurts..............but then I'm pretty sure most folks on this forum feel the same way about their flock. Each bird has a name and an individual personality you can spot 50 yards away. Just part of keeping chickens, I guess.

 

[Cheekychook12]

Boy am I ever embarrassed !!! Just went out to pick up the eggs for the day and in the darkest corner of the coop was our missing hen struggling to breath. While I'm relieved to know I was wrong about losing her to a hawk, I'm totally perplexed to imagine what might be causing her to die. ??? I scooped her up and brought her into the house to try and "syringe" some water down her........just a few drops and maybe tempt her to take in some yogurt. She's too weak to argue. I know she is dying..........I just don't know why and I hate that. I got a cardboard box and put a bath towel in it to make her comfortable "until".

Well the only "good" to come out of this journey is knowing I don't need to panic and build a scarecrow or do anything drastic to the pens we have for the hens.

We have 5 hens left and love every single one of them. We treat them like pets and to lose one hurts..............but then I'm pretty sure most folks on this forum feel the same way about their flock. Each bird has a name and an individual personality you can spot 50 yards away. Just part of keeping chickens, I guess.

@Eggcessive
@Wyorp Rock
Hopefully these more experienced people can help
Sorry your hen is sick, mine are like pets too

 

[Eggcessive]

Get her drinking some sugar water or electrolytes, gatorade, pedialyte, holding it up to her beak. Is her crop empty or full, hard or soft? Has she lost weight? Look her over for lice and mites. Does she lay eggs? What is her age? ny other details about her?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Well we lost our first hen today to a predator. No feathers anywhere..............no foreign tracks from any 4-legged critters..........no evidence of a scuffle in the dirt so my assumption is it was a quick attack from the air. We've been observing and chasing off a lot of larger hawks recently but they've looked like scavengers to me..............soaring buzzards. We've a nest of Redtail hawks within 150 yards of our chicken coop but the chicks just keep coming back to the nest every season and have never bothered any of my chickens. This is our first loss and it saddens us. Don't feel like I've done enough to protect them. There's not much I can do beyond what I have unless it's to sit in the pen with a shotgun. Don't know if a scarecrow would work. Has anyone had luck with one ???

While I'm relieved to know I was wrong about losing her to a hawk, I'm totally perplexed to imagine what might be causing her to die. ??? I scooped her up and brought her into the house to try and "syringe" some water down her........just a few drops and maybe tempt her to take in some yogurt. She's too weak to argue. I know she is dying

I'm glad you found her. To give my opinion, if a bird goes missing, just poof - it's usually Fox, Coyote or possibly Bobcat. You won't necessarily see a trail of feathers, they come in hard, fast and quickly grab a bird and are gone within seconds. Hawks drive their prey to the ground, then usually pluck the breast and begin to feast, so you will see plucked down and feathers. Most Hawks are not strong enough to fly away with a full grown hen. It's possible I suppose, but I've never seen that.

How is she doing?

I'd still check her over for any injuries, puncture wounds and abrasions.

Very good suggestions and questions from Eggcessive, if you can answer those along with photos of your hen and her poop those may be helpful.

Get her drinking some sugar water or electrolytes, gatorade, pedialyte, holding it up to her beak. Is her crop empty or full, hard or soft? Has she lost weight? Look her over for lice and mites. Does she lay eggs? What is her age? ny other details about her?

 

[Eggcessive]

How is your hen doing this afternoon?

 

[Chickenman623]

Sorry to just be getting back. She died within 2 hours of me finding her and posting here. That was bad enough but....................

This morning (Friday 5/9/25) I went out to let the hens out of the run into their pen and another hen was dead in the floor or their coop. "Houston, we've got a problem." Only I don't know what it is !!!

She's already stiff so there's no saving her from her fate.........but I've got to figure out what's going on or I'm afraid we might lose our entire little flock. They've all been eating and drinking well. I keep their water clean and treated with Quick-chick. They are on Purina Crumbles and never run out of food. I sprinkle about a half cup of Black Fly Larvae and Oatmeal flakes into the run around sunset to get'em all in and locked up so they'll be safe for the night. So they get that kind of evening treat and I cast out a cup of sunflower seeds into the "greater pen" during the day.

 

[Chickenman623]

Okay...............no discoloration of skin, face, comb or feet. Crop is empty. No mites. Without cutting her open, I don't think she's egg-bound, that I can tell. A lot of her feces were outside of her body stuck in her feathers.(huge clump) I don't know if that was as a result of evacuation after death or of diarrhea. Picked up and checked the rest of the hens and only one showed signs of having had any diarrhea.......but her vent wasn't blocked. Egg production has been good. (but have no idea who is laying what) No discoloration of eggs. All eggs seem normally shaped and shells hard. We use the deep floor method inside our coop and there's no ammonia smell when I open the door. The only thing I know to do is to clean out the coop to the bare floor and spray Clorox to disinfect it if there's something going on with that.

 

[Cheekychook12]

@Eggcessive
@Wyorp Rock