Chicken myths and old wives' tales, please!

[Miss Lydia]

 

[vmdanielsen]

Quote:
OH yeah! Mine likes the garage roof!!

 

[Afterburner]

There's one that goes like this, a farmer goes into a massive chicken coop - holding thousands of birds - and fills the feeder. As he walks away from it, he trips on a loose board, falls down and is knocked unconcious while blood streams from a fresh cut on his forehead. The Chickens get so excited at the sight of blood, they peck him to death. I have heard of mean roosters, but I think this a little out of the ballpark. The same story has also been told involving turkeys, peacocks and even eagles.

I have a pure white EE that likes to perch on me. When she was 8 weeks old and had no comb or waddles, I would let her perch on my arm while getting the mail. When the mail lady came to my community super mailbox, I put arm on the box and allowed my EE to observe the mail lady. That postal worker nearly freaked out when she saw the beaked warrior staring into her eyes and watching in deep intreast. Appearantly, she thought my EE was a baby bald eagle and was going to attack her without provocation.

Finally, there is my neighbour. He is a former Marine who has honourably served in combat during the Panama and Grenada theatres. He freely admits to hearing the sound of gunfire racing overhead during combat. When I take my perching EE for a walk, he acts really funny and keeps a his distance. Now that the EE is fully grown, he remarks how huge a chicken she is and is surprised how comfortable I am handling her. Finally he confessed the other day, that he he is terrified of chickens. His greatest fear is getting pecked. I guess beaks are sharper than bullets.

 

[PunkinPeep]

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There have been times that i didn't doubt the validity of that a bit. When my chickens were younger, i would sometimes wear shorts to the coop. At one point, i had a rash on my legs that was causing red scabs. I couldn't keep the chickens off of me for pecking at my legs. I had to go inside and change. That's when i thought, don't get injured and locked in the coop.......

P.S. Welcome to BYC!

 

[tammyd57]

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I'm tempted to believe that one.

I slipped and fell in my chicken yard (nothing injured but my pride) and all the chickens came running and flying over like I had just spilled a whole bucket of scratch or something! I was worried they were gonna eat me before I could get up! It didn't help that I have mobility issues and couldn't get up right away. DH was out of town for two days at the time. A picture flashed through my mind while I was struggling to get up: DH coming home to find a buncha really fat chickens and my bones picked clean in the yard.

 

[Parrotchick]

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I'm tempted to believe that one.

I slipped and fell in my chicken yard (nothing injured but my pride) and all the chickens came running and flying over like I had just spilled a whole bucket of scratch or something! I was worried they were gonna eat me before I could get up! It didn't help that I have mobility issues and couldn't get up right away. DH was out of town for two days at the time. A picture flashed through my mind while I was struggling to get up: DH coming home to find a buncha really fat chickens and my bones picked clean in the yard.

I would have thought they were running over to see if Mom was OK and if there was anything they could do to help. My chickies know I look out for them so I'm sure they would do the same for me. Admittedly though, the turkeys would probably rummage through my pockets before getting help.

 

[tammyd57]

Quote:
I'm tempted to believe that one.

I slipped and fell in my chicken yard (nothing injured but my pride) and all the chickens came running and flying over like I had just spilled a whole bucket of scratch or something! I was worried they were gonna eat me before I could get up! It didn't help that I have mobility issues and couldn't get up right away. DH was out of town for two days at the time. A picture flashed through my mind while I was struggling to get up: DH coming home to find a buncha really fat chickens and my bones picked clean in the yard.

I would have thought they were running over to see if Mom was OK and if there was anything they could do to help. My chickies know I look out for them so I'm sure they would do the same for me. Admittedly though, the turkeys would probably rummage through my pockets before getting help.

If they were trying to help, standing all over my arms and legs wasn't really the help I needed.

 

[Miss Lydia]

,funny but true

 

[sourland]

Don't fall down in the broiler house. Happens all the time in the broiler houses down in Maryland. It's the special ingredient that gives Perdue chickens their flavor.

 

[patman75]

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I hope I never put this myth to the test. I have seen what my girls do to a turkey or chicken carcass.