fear of chickens

Pharaoh's fowl play left me with puncture wounds and a tetanus booster

Oh, the feathered drama continues!

3 min readRaising Chickens or Other Poultry for Eggs, Meat, or as Pets
Pharaoh's fowl play left me with puncture wounds and a tetanus booster
Roo got me good

So Pharaoh the Roo drew blood. Two puncture wounds, a shin that's bruising up "quite nicely," a tetanus booster, a round of antibiotics, and a partner whose patience is running on fumes. I've been there. Not with a rooster named Pharaoh, but with that moment when a feathered friend you raised from a peep decides your flared flappy pants are a personal challenge. The photo of the wounds doesn't look dramatic, but anyone who has been spiked by a rooster's spur knows it's not the size of the hole that matters. It's the way your whole leg throbs afterward, and the way you start scanning the yard for ambushes.

Here's the honest take: Pharaoh is doing what roosters do, but he's doing it too well. He chased a seven-year-old. That's the line. A rooster who sees children as threats, or as targets for redirection, is a rooster who has graduated from "protective" to "problematic." Our OP diverted his aggression toward herself, which is brave and also exactly how people get those puncture wounds. The treat-before-entry strategy is a good start, but when the ladies are scarfing the snacks before Pharaoh gets a look, the gesture loses its power. Roosters need to see you as the source of good things, not as a rival flock member wearing suspicious pants.

If a reader came to me with this story, I'd ask one thing: is Pharaoh worth the bruising and the tetanus shots? Not in a sentimental way, in a practical, "you have a kid and a partner who are done" way. Roosters can sometimes be reformed with consistent, calm handling, a separate training pen, or even a temporary "rooster time-out" in a dog crate near the flock so he watches without interacting. But once a rooster has escalated to attacking a child, the clock is ticking. You can try wearing different pants and moving slowly. You can try putting a treat in his face before he gets ideas. But if he keeps choosing violence, you have to choose safety.

I respect the OP for getting the shots, monitoring the wounds, and being honest about the looming ultimatum. That's not chickening out, that's being a responsible human with a rooster who forgot that you're the one who fills the feeder. Pharaoh's fate is undecided, but here's the concrete point: a rooster who draws blood from a person who feeds him has made his priorities clear. The question isn't whether he can be fixed. It's whether you want to keep betting your shins on the answer.

From Raising Chickens or Other Poultry for Eggs, Meat, or as Pets

UPDATE: I got a tetanus booster this morning and started a round of antibiotics. I am closely monitoring the puncture wounds.

The fate of Pharaoh the Roo has yet to be determined but I will post an update if anything changes

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