You don’t have to live in fear when confronted by an aggressive chicken.

Our little sister once saved a bantam chick from certain death when we were young. Miss Peep was her name, and she loved her very much.  It wasn’t long, however, before Miss Peep turned out to be Mr. Peep, a mean rooster over all else. We used to watch him waiting for one of us to leave and he would charge out of the fencerow, head lowered, spurred legs ready. He had never done anything except take care of us, so there was no reason for him to be such a pill. We had never faced an aggressive chicken before.

Mean chickens are not funny at all. The overall flock and we as well-meaning humans need some defensive measures to combat the tyranny these birds can inflict upon them.

First, we must learn to recognize meanness in birds.

It’s not as simple as it seems. As we understand meanness, there is no place for it in the chicken brain. Humans perceive aggressive chickens as mean if they peck at the hand that feeds them, beat them with their wings (called “flogging,”); threaten people, animals, and other chickens; and generally terrorize them for no reason. To start, you have to recognize that it’s not personal. Game lovers can enjoy WPC live online. If you want to play online cockfights, you can join the WPC2027 live. The best platform for watching live games and enjoying yourself.

While aggression can be annoying, concerning, and even frightening at times, it is comforting to know that chickens don’t act maliciously or with a purpose. Understanding that prevents us from thinking of aggressive chickens as having ulterior motives and treating them as enemies.

Chickens may be aggressive due to hormones, genetics, instincts or behavioral reinforcement. In the same way that some breeds are more aggressive, some are better foragers, layers, or mothers, some are also better mothers. The breed itself may vary within one breed. (See “Read Your Breed” below.) Bantams are generally gentle animals, but Mr. Peep didn’t represent this breed well. In addition to recognizing people as threats, roosters can also act defensively if they perceive them as threats.

Defense No. 2: Be Top Bird

by thinking like an alpha. Chickens establish their social hierarchy by pecking and aggressiveness. Jacquie Jacob writes, in her University of Kentucky Extension article, “Normal Behaviors of Chickens in Small and Backyard Poultry Flocks,” that chickens begin fighting by their 16th day.

Chickens seem unaware that attacking people to prove who’s the boss won’t win them any favors — unless, of course, you back down.  Neither backing down from a chicken nor allowing a dog, horse or other animal to establish dominance is a good idea. Someone else, perhaps a child or less suspecting person, may be hurt.

According to Jacob, both male and female chickens can attack, but roosters are more violent. They draw blood by using their spurs and beak to attack unprotected skin. It is not uncommon for them to be aggressive. They are also prone to undesirable behaviors. In a flock without roosters, a hen might take on the protective role of a rooster by being aggressive with people while remaining docile with the other hens.

The hen named Kristy, which you had to keep an eye on continuously or she would attack with beak, wings, and claws every time, was one of the escape artists I had in my last flock. She was eaten one night by a fox, and we didn’t lament. Retrospectively, I wondered if Kristy was just doing her job, protecting her flock, by becoming the token rooster in the group.

The third defense: Never let anything get in the way.

You should pay attention if a chicken lowers its head and sidles toward you! It might sound funny to some to be attacked by a chicken-until it happens to you. As Jacob points out, aggressive chickens are typified by raised neck feathers and wings pointing down and away from their bodies. Chickens will flog their opponents if they are not turned away and stand very tall before kicking out to engage their spurs, pecking, jumping at and spurring as they go.

Taking care of aggressive chickens does not seem to be foolproof. Some people recommend bringing food to distract them. My experiences with Mr. Peep and Kristy attest to the fact that kindness and sweet-talk have never worked for me. It did get Mr. Peep to leave me alone when I defended myself with my boot or a stick, but it didn’t even seem to faze Kristy. It has been shown that such methods can make birds more aggressive, as they view them as challenges or threats.

Defense #4: Engage on offense

The best way to deal with aggressive chickens appears to be to establish yourself at the top of the pecking order.  Using dominance like you would with a dog would be the most humane way of doing this.

If you want to dominate chickens, grab them by their feet, turn them upside down, ignore their squawking, and tuck them into your arm like a football at the first sign of attack. In the event that you have a showdown of this kind, wear gloves and clothing that you don’t mind coming into contact with chicken feet and feathers. Next, go about your business and hold it until it stops struggling and hollering, which usually takes less than a minute.

Let it go, but keep an eye on it. You may see it return at first. Provide it with more of the same every time it attacks.  You might eventually learn to leave the aggressive bird alone, though some just never give up.

Defence No. 5: Discourage The Threat

Jacob also mentions the doctoral thesis of Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe who coined the phrase “pecking order,” a Norwegian scientist at the University of Oslo in 1921, concerning the social structure of birds.

Schelderup-Ebbe suggested that chickens recognize up to 30 individuals as part of their pecking order. So even if your attack chicken begins to give a wide berth to you, don’t expect everyone to follow suit. If one of your flock members is very aggressive, you might want to remove it.  It is possible to give it as a gift or to put it in the stew pot.

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There is no need to live in constant fear. When you have a chicken that is aggressive, wait until your kids are old enough to be the dominant force in collecting eggs or feeding them. Alternatively, remove any threat. There have been cases where children have been blinded by chickens.

It is unreasonable to expect an aggressive chicken to appreciate you as a caretaker or be touched by your kind acts when you are dealing with it. Always remain on guard, establish dominance if you can, and if you can’t, send the bird on its way.