Help, my chicken attacked my daughter!

[millefleur]

If it is typical for this hen, and she has not taken to heart any top pecking order instructions from you, then I agree, she must go. I have had superior manners from my Hamburg hens and roosters for 40 years. I trusted them with my children, my grandchildren, and now my great grantchildren. Many other breeds can be more or even extremely agressive.

If you cannot keep new introductions to a flock separate by some wire for a while, (even if it is only one bird), give them plenty of places and space to outmaneuver an agressor so that they cannot get trapped in a small space and get beat up, or killed, by an extremely top pecking order hen. I have just introduced two young barred rock hens to my small flock of hamburgs and wyandottes and they are getting along fairly well, unless they try to pick up a treat an older hen sees first. They they get a hard peck. The rooster has been gentle with them from the beginning.

 

[Half-a-dozen]

Quote:
A few days ago we had one attack my son...........

un ........He went to the stew pot!!!

 

[Beekissed]

I introduced a hen with small biddy and a group of half grown, not fully fledged biddies (8) into my small flock without any problems. I free range and my henhouse is not small, so they went through the regular pecking order but noone got hurt and they are slowly assimilating. It took about a week for the rooster to accept the new hen into his harem and now she follows him around like a pup.

Where they came from, these chickens were getting persecuted by the regular flock. I have an irresponsible-chicken-owner sister and I get her mistakes and rejects!

I refer to her house as chicken hell and my house as chicken heaven! Over there they have no protection from predators, a small, overcrowded coop, few nest boxes, mean roosters, chicken-killing dogs, no grass, no shade, constant barking of many dogs, fighting and, consequently, no feathers on their bodies! And these chickens and turkeys are free ranged!

Over here they have 2+ acres of sweet green grass, a 15-tree apple orchard for shade, a clean, bright henhouse with a 10 hole nesting unit, a sweet rooster and LGDs who keep hawks, crows, buzzards, and all other predators away and do very little barking. No stress, no fighting and pecking, no running. Just lazy day after lazy day of pecking and scratching, eating and drinking, laying and mating. Chicken heaven!

 

[MissPrissy]

In defense of the hen - never send a child to do the job of an adult.

While we like for our children to be helpful and to interact with our chickens we must also remember that our chickens are domestic livestock. Eyeballs are like shiney grapes and they will go after a child's eyes (and yours) if given a chance.

A rooster is the same as a bull or a stallion only packed in a smaller package. Would you send a 4 year old out to the pasture to tend to a bull or a stallion? Of course not.

A hen is the same as a cow or a mare. Would you send a child out to the pasture to tend a fully grown horse or cow? Of course not.

I do not think it is the hens fault. The child is smaller than an adult human and may be seen as a threat being closer to the hens immediate personal space.

We must teach our children to respect our animals but we have to remember livestock do not have the same drive or emotions as humans and are not respectors of people. Never let children tend your flock. Very bad things can happen.

 

[riderbecky]

With all due respect Miss P...the OP has mentioned that the offending hen has attacked herself on more than one occassion.

Perhaps my memory is faulty, but I recall reading (somewhere) that Auracanas could be aggressive because they are bred truer to their jungle fowl origins to preserve the wonderful colors of thier eggs. I may be wrong about this...bin doing lots of reading about breeds and their traits before ordering from the hatchery.

Regarding children mixing with our domesticated animals....always, ALWAYS with supervision (although that doesn't always stop accidents from happening).

My last thought is that while it is a shame to lose your hen...better her than permanent damage to your daughter.

*steps of soap box*

 

[MissPrissy]

With all due respect, if a hen is known to be aggressive in the past why would you send a child to handle it? I am not trying to start an arguement or to be rude but sometimes the point needs to be made that children and domestic animals always need supervision and even more so when the animal in question has been aggressive in the past.

 

[riderbecky]

Quote from OP

What happend the other day was not unusual, my daughter loves the chickens and they usually will allow her to pick them up. I asked her to get Rosie so that we could put them in their pen for the evening and she reached down to get her and Rosie bit her. Rosie has pecked at my feet but she has also bit me which is completely different and hurts like heck.

Maybe its just me but this statement seems to be indicating that Bubs was present, ie supervising her daughter. What I've taken from this thread is that this mother is guilt ridden and even thought she very likely knows the course of action she needs to take...Bubs has come to us looking for support and possible suggestions incase we can think of an alternative to soup or rehoming rosie that she hasn't considered....not judgment...Passing judgement is easy to do to others but not so easy to take. I'm not trying to say that your opinion is wrong or misinformed...cuz I'm not at all. But its times like these when we need a hand up and not a

**jumping off soap box again and ducking the rotten eggs**​

 

[55885100]

if you got a mean bird make soop

 

[paisleycj]

Even if you're within reach of your child, things can go wrong very fast. I guess I'd consider myself lucky that the child wasn't hurt worse, and decide that the animal in question has used up all it's chances. The only other thing possible would be to totally isolate the animal from children and have adults carry a big stick!! For me, that's not an option. Waking up in the morning is rife with risk. All we can do is take steps to minimize risks.

 

[Davaroo]

I will risk a different stance here, along with MissPrissy, but maybe the tykes should be kept out of the chicken yard.

When I was a little kid, we weren't allowed around the animals much. If we got near them, we were taking our chances. In many ways they were quite dangerous to a child. They were farm animals, but animals nonetheless. This included the chickens, which can be quite mean at times. Since people's food and livelihood depended on these creatures, we gave them the lead. As New Age hobbyists, we have a different view of things.

Children seem to have an innate ability to trigger chickens into "bad" behavior, for whatever reasons. But maybe that is a sign that they should be kept out of reach of the critters. We "listen" to our chickens in every other way, but refuse to do so on this matter. We insist, instead, that everyone gets along. The birds however, have no such fanciful notions.

Since you have only the two, begin teaching your daughter about the chicken and getting them together in a controlled way. When you accept livestock animals into your life, you accept their ways to a great measure. Dont let the youngster be the handler, either. THAT must be your job. If this doesn't work, the alternatives are simple. Give the offending hen away, and call it done.