chicken insides out

[petalumafarmer]

Went to let my hens out of their enclosure this morning only to find a hen dragging what appears to be her digestive track. I assume that this is not something from which she will recover however, before I put this bird out of her or my misery any ideas of what caused this? She was perfectly healthy last evening when they were locked up for the night.

Mystery solved: autopsy revealed the hen had gash consistent with raptor attack on her abdomen. Speculate that she got free from the enclosure early this morning and was attacked and returned to the enclosure after escaping her attacker. (found puff of feathers in lower pasture…)

 

[Marigold]

Hi, and welcome to the forum.
Poor girl, you did right to despatch her, she must have been in much pain, as well as the shock of the attack. Have you had trouble with raptor attacks before? What kind of bird do you suppose it was?

 

[chrismahon]

Big problems with Buzzards are being reported on the accidental smallholder forum Petalumafarmer. Red Kites as well. The solution appears to be covered runs or obstacles placed to interrupt potential flight paths. We had a close call ourselves yesterday and today will be running yellow washing lines between the trees- something we did in the Dordogne when we had a buzzard fly through the enclosure at a time when fortunately all the chickens were inside their runs. Seems the problem gets considerably worse as the hunting daytime shortens.

Hope you can find out how she got out and close the gap.