Psycho Hen.

Bantam hens are renown for being great mothers to the point the will try to brood anything if they're in the mood- other hen's chicks, baby rabbits, even golf balls. When they first hatch out a clutch they tend to be over protective giving a half hearted peck when fresh water or food is put in their vicinity but after a couple of days they'll realize no harm in meant and will allow any sort of activity around their babies.

Most of my hens are pretty easy going.

It was my luck that three weeks ago a two year old hen walked out with two small day old chicks resulting from an unplanned pregnancy. I grabbed an unused possum cage to catch them in and with some help from a visitor managed to get the babies in before enticing Mum with food.

Mother love can hurt 

That was my last non violent encounter with her. From that day onward she would scream abuse whenever I put my hand near her and I ended up with a mass of red beak wounds on my hands and arms. A week and a half later she leaped up and sunk her beak into the fleshy part of my forearm leaving a sizeable wound which bled on and off for two days.

My wound straight after the attack.

I never considered chicken keeping a dangerous activity apart from the occasional hit on the head with an over enthusiastic rooster at breakfast time. But I now approach Psycho Hen as I call her with a healthy dose of respect. Perhaps Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" is not so far fetched as I used to think.