Ornithophobia- fear of birds

[Sunshade82]

I didn’t know where to post this but I had to share somewhere (I can’t share via Facebook cause the “victim” is on there )
Today we had our first encounter with someone terrified of birds. Now to be fair, she never mentioned her fear before coming over....
My 22 year old niece was visiting with her family this week. She’s seen my chickens in their run and even taken her kids to see them through the fence.
Today upon returning for the day, she came in the backyard with her 5 month old while I was letting my girls run around free in the yard for a while. (Still no mention of bird-phobia).
She sat down on a chair to feed the baby while I sat on the grass in case Goldie the red sexlink wanted to snuggle. Goldie loves jumping on my lap (and my lap only) but today she wasn’t interested....until she saw my niece.
Now Goldie doesn’t wait to be invited on a lap and if you’re holding another chicken she demands to be held too. I didn’t think anything of it because she only comes to me and well, the baby definitely wasn’t a chicken.
I don’t know if Goldie was jealous that this chicken-baby was on a lap and she wasnt? Or if she could tell my niece is afraid of birds? Regardless, she walked over, looked my niece in the eye, and jumped. Straight up into the air (she’s a good jumper) and then down on my nieces bare leg (who wears shorts with chickens anyway?)
What occurred next happened quickly...but also seemed to be in slow motion.
my niece began screaming and started this awkward motion of trying to scoot forward on the chair, stand up, lay back, (flap her arms?), and twist around all while holding a baby and now a chicken.
With all the movement, Goldie was flapping to stay balanced on my niece’s bare leg (she has awesome balance) but her wings were making her look much bigger than she was and adding an intense drumbeat to the screaming (which now included the baby.)
After watching this for longer than I should have, I finally got over my shock and amazement and removed Goldie from my nieces lap (while letting Goldie know that was a jerk move.) After consoling her baby (remarkable she didn’t drop her), my niece let me know she was afraid of a lot of animals...but mostly birds.
I apologized that my chicken wanted to love on her and we all had a good laugh.
Tonight they decided to spend the night at a different family members house. I don’t think it had to do with the chickens but honestly, I wonder.
Attached pictures of the trouble making chicken

 

[Ursuline Chick]

Sorry to hear about all that happened, I don't even know where to start with this situation.
At least you all know the problem and not to have your niece or her baby in the back yard again. Let them sit in the front if they want to be outside, problem solved.

 

[Sunshade82]

Sorry to hear about all that happened, I don't even know where to start with this situation.
At least you all know the problem and not to have your niece or her baby in the back yard again. Let them sit in the front if they want to be outside, problem solved.

Luckily no one was hurt and my niece even joked that we should’ve gotten it on camera so it could go viral.
My chickens are in their coop &run 95% of the time since we have hawks everywhere...so this should be the last encounter with my niece luckily.

 

[Callender Girl]

I'm sure your niece was scared, but poor Goldie! She was just trying to be attention-hogging self and this human went berserk!

When I was the managing editor of a weekly farm newspaper, I had a reporter who grew up on a farm and knew a lot about livestock, crops, all kinds of ag issues. She worked there for years before I knew she was terrified of chickens! I gave her an assignment where she came face to face with the subject's chickens in his barn and almost couldn't do the interview because she was so scared.

It's good you and your niece can joke about it -- and it IS too bad there's no video!

 

[DukesDucks]

I'm glad your story had a safe ending. I'm not afraid of chickens but yours has a very determined expression. I can understand the reaction.
Story reminds me of my cats. Doesn't matter how many people there are around, the cats will gravitate towards the one person who either doesn't like cats or is allergic to them.

 

[woodburys]

Greetings from West Hartford,
Alektorophobia (fear of chickens) is a rare condition, but it may be very painful to see your close people having it. My girlfriend had a fear of roosters, because of the trauma in her childhood. She even had to visit a psychotherapist because of that (his service was rather pricey, but it was worth it).