Good advice from brendasue. :) Like she said, you need to keep the bird warm and quiet to guard against shock, which can kill. I'd be willing to bet there as puncture wounds from the hawk's talons, though. Either the hawk's grip or the fall may have broken or bruised her leg(s) if she is limping. If taking the bird to the vet is out, it might be a good idea to get some over-the-counter bird antibiotic such as Ornacyn (at the pet store in the bird/reptile section) and add it to the hens' water. Use the doseage for parrots and follow label directions, and if it comes in tablet form crush it up first (the tablets take forever to dissolve). Keep her warm and quiet, and you can give her unflavored Pedialyte (at the grocery store, in the baby aisle) to drink to boost her electrolytes--good for injured or sick birds. You can get an idea of what is going on with her leg by starting at the top, GENTLY but firmly grasp her leg between your thumb and forefinger and squeeze, working your way down the leg. If she jumps or sqwauks at a certain point, you've found an injury. Get another hen and compare how it feels between the two hens' legs. You might be able to feel a serious enough break with your fingers. Also, test her--does she grasp with the injured leg's foot? Hold her up and tip her back and forth a bit, watching the foot--does it move or grasp? Anything that can help you diagnose her will help you. Feel up into her thigh area as well. Offer her goodies to keep her eating, such as live mealworms, cooked ground beef, scrambled eggs, diced grapes, raw corn on the cob, etc. Anything that keeps her eating and hydrated is good, and extra protein from things like mealworms will help her heal. I've got a chicken info site here that may help, this is the section of health: http://jackshenhouse.com/VSChickHealth.htm Good luck with her, and congrats to your wife for battling a hawk to save her! :) Velvet ~:>

Thanks to all that have shared over the past. My 10 chicks just started laying about 3 weeks ago. When they began laying, they became much more more brave about ranging out in the open and have been roaming our 3 acres like never before. Up to the point of laying, they stayed within 25 yards of the coop and always under the trees. I witnessed the first hawk attack yesterday. One of the hens had wandered off down near the wooded creek area and a broad-shouldered hawk hit her twice as she skedaddled for the coop with me hollern' and shouting the whole time. All the others ran for the shrubs around the house. Fortunately, she just lost a good size clump of feathers. I'd seen another hawk doing reconnaissance a couple of months back and had strung two lines with some streamers from our 2nd story deck to near the coop about 10-20ft off the ground. Think I will add a couple of more today to other points at the edge of the woods to increase the coverage and maybe add an owl decoy. I haven't given up on free-ranging yet, but I guess my next step would be to build a penned chicken run.

Actually we are fat because of the fat fairy. Remember when you put your tooth under the pillow and got a quarter? Or nickel? Well, that winged (^(^((&&*&%$%$ takes the teeth and grows them into fat cells. When you are sleeping happily with all your adult teeth she sneaks in and glues it to your butt and thighs, and anywhere else she can. And uh, I kind of roll around in the dirt too, it sure makes me happy to be all dirty in the garden! Tally Ho!

I've seen on other threads that some people have suggested to stop feeding the other birds and other little critters in the area and the hawks will move as the others move off due to lack of food. We don't feed the local wildlife, of which there is usually very little. Is there something that will just annoy the hawks into wanting to relocate? We're not, by bird standards, terribly far from the Montezuma Wildlife Refuge, 20 miles or so. And the Adirondacks are only 150 miles away. Could we gently nudge them in that direction? Another thing, one of my co-workers thought the bird still might be migrating north, that this is just a stop over on its way home. Is this likely in Upstate New York this time of year (it's still very cold, we had snow last night), or is the bird here to stay? Most of my neighbors in the eight square blocks on this side of town also have small dogs, so we are all concerned. We are in hope that the big birds in question haven't found a new home here with our pets on the menu.