To be fair, barnyard fowl can be quite vicious. Mind you, it's usually the roosters that are CRAZY. I have a friend who grew up in a household that included a crazy rooster who, if he didn't like you and he didn't like anybody would literally sneak up behind you, and then jump up and scraaaape the backs of your legs with his talons/claws/whatefver you want to call them, drawing serious blood. He stopped doing that to my freind after she was outside pouring feed into a trough, sensed him sneaking up, turned around and bashed him hard with the bucket. Her mom never managed to scare him off though, and they kept a 2x4 by the back door for her to use for the express purpose of rooster defense.