SPUR OF THE MOMENT

..Or Napoleon takes my bones apart!

  ONE of my animals has attacked me and I am in a state of shock. Not because of the viciousness and unrelenting nature of the assault but because of the perpetrator.
 I half expected in an unguarded moment I might be rammed or butted by one of the sheep, or that Jack the gander might suddenly turn on me now that he has managed to scare off everyone else who comes within his eye line. I even thought Ant or Dec, or both, could one day launch an assault on me when I least expected it because turkeys are unpredictable creatures.
 But never for one moment did I expect Napoleon to turn on me, but turn he did using his razor sharp spurs with the deftness and skill of a Samurai swordsman. My left hand now looks like something on a butcher's chopping board as you can see from the series of picture below.

TAKE THAT - palm

AND THAT - below small
finger

AND THAT - thumb

 It all began when I noticed Edwina, one of the cuckoo-coloured Scots Dumpys had developed a limp and as I moved closer I could see she had a clip of some sort attached to her leg which needed to be removed as she was obviously in mild distress. I merely bent down to scoop her up and Napoleon emitted a weird screech and charged straight at me.
 Knocking Edwina out of my hands he then set about in three quick moves to slash and stab my skin using both spurs as he drop kicked me Kung Fu-style. It was like a scene from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and it really hurt causing me to emit a large, ungodly howl followed by several expletives I thought I'd long forgotten.

 The good news is I removed the plastic clip causing Edwina the pain but the bad news is my left hand has swollen and two of my fingers can barely bend. I ran the wound under a running tap and wiped it with an antiseptic cream but it is very painful. I reflected on what had happened because you can't take these things personally ... or I'd be having roast chicken for dinner tonight!
 But, as Alpha male in the hen pen, Napoleon was not being predatory but simply over protective towards Edwina who was already in some distress when I went to do my Good Samaritan act.
 In future I will always keep an eye out for Napoleon as well as the two other cockerels Jumpin' Jack and Horatio before stepping in to the hen pen and I'll try to remember to wear a pair of leather gloves.
 I usually wander around with a large stick but I put it down as I knelt to pick up Edwina.

 And I guess I will always remember the relationship I have with my animals ... we're not friends as much as I would like to be. I'm simply the person who comes around with the food and tries to look after their welfare. It is quite obvious after what happened today that only one individual can rule the roost and that is Napoleon who, I've noticed, is imposing his will more and more on the rest of the hens. If there's an outbreak of bullying he wades straight in and stops potential flare ups and he's always there to keep the other two cockerels in check. He's also taken to growling while prowling as the video clip shows.
 If something similar has happened to you, or if I'm handling this the wrong way, please give me your feedback.