‘Pierre’ a.k.a. ‘Devil Bird’
Why do some roosters attack humans? Well, Roosters are born programmed to do their ‘rooster duties’. These ‘duties’ include looking out for their hens at all times, anything that may be harmful to his hens will more than likely get attacked.
At my household we have 3 roosters. One of which is very aggressive when it comes to defending his ‘ladies’. His name is Pierre, but he also answers to ‘Devil Bird’. He is a Crevecoeur, a french breed. He was given to us by a family that ordered day old chicks. They revived too many roosters, and he was the low man on the totem pole.
One day about a year ago, I walked outside to go check on all the chickens to make sure everyone was okay. All of a sudden I hear the sound of someone or something running after me and something sharp making contact with my skin. I turn around and there stands Pierre. At first I thought he was just a little confused, so I continued my journey to check on he rest of the flock. A few steps later he attacked me again. By that time I knew he wasn’t confused, he knew what he was doing. From then on out every time I would walk outside I would be frightened, and think I would get hurt again by that rooster.
Chickens are simple animals, rooster doubly so. It would be nice if I could just ignore his attacks, but when I wear shorts, his attacks break my skin. Kicking at him does nothing, it just makes him more aggressive. He is so sneaky that always have to be on guard. We even tried turning the hose on him. He just attacked the same way the next day.
So we will take the bad with the good, and learn to put up with the primitive actions of the rooster, and enjoy all the benefits of having backyard chickens.
Posted by Molly Clegg, High School Intern
