Stop Pecking at Me!

Lately when I go out to the backyard, my 3 chickens have been pecking at my legs until I chase them away. Well I have not been out in the backyard because of DD2 and also it gets quite hot in the afternoon with temperature in the upper 90s degree F.

I'll probably hang a lettuce for the ladies to peck at later today. It'll be fun for them too.


Here is a scary news report about a 84 years old woman who lost a leg to magpie's pecking:

Woman Loses Leg to magpie's Pecking
November 3, 2008

NEW YORK -- After being pecked by a pet magpie, an Australian woman's leg was amputated in a rare medical case, as reported in the Nov. 3 issue of the Medical Journal of Australia.

The bird had "often" called for scraps at the house and then became a pet, adopted by the woman's daughter.

Yet the seemingly benign incident turned tragic after the magpie pecked the 84-year-old woman above her left ankle in their home, near Newcastle, north of Sidney, Australia.

Initially, the "peck" site became swollen, red and was painful, but 11 days after the "pecking," the symptoms increased and the woman was taken to the emergency room.

Admitted to the hospital, she was prescribed a treatment of antibiotics and anti-fungal drugs to combat an uncommon human pathogen, Saksenaea vasiformis, as reported by Dr. Paul Wilson in MJA's "Notable Cases."

However, what was considered "just a peck" turned into gangrene, where the doctors were forced to amputate the senior's left leg above the knee.

Wilson, an infectious disease practitioner, says infections following pecking injuries are rare. However, such cases he knows of have included "septic arthritis of the knee after a chicken bite and a fatal brain abscess in a child caused by a rooster peck."

Read the rest here.