SESKStuff Everyone Should Know
SESK: Stuff Everyone Should Know · sesk.info/chick-bite-tetanus

A chicken pecks you and breaks the skin. When should you see a doctor?

If it is serious, gets red or swollen, or your tetanus shot is over 5 years old.

Start playing free

  1. Never, chicken pecks are harmless
  2. If serious, swollen, or tetanus shot over 5 years ✔
  3. Only if the chicken is a rooster

Why: Wash any peck or scratch with soap and warm water right away. Germs can spread even when the wound does not look deep.

Huh, didn't know that: Chickens have no teeth, but a beak can still do real damage.

The dad joke
Why did the rooster go to the gym? To work on his pecks.
Like this card?
Play the game

References

Answer: If serious, swollen, or tetanus shot over 5 years. Wash any peck or scratch with soap and warm water right away. Germs can spread even when the wound does not look deep.

  1. Backyard Poultry, CDC Healthy Pets, Healthy People www.cdc.gov/healthy-pets/about/backyard-poultry.html
    It has been more than 5 years since your last tetanus shot.
    Checked 2026-10-11.
  2. Backyard Poultry, CDC Healthy Pets, Healthy People www.cdc.gov/healthy-pets/about/backyard-poultry.html
    Wash wounds with soap and warm water immediately if poultry scratch or bite you.
    Checked 2026-10-11.

Think this answer is wrong? Tap "Challenge this answer" on the card in the game and tell us why.

Test yourself in the game

Backyard ChickensYour hen has small bare spots, not an all-over molt. What usually causes them?Backyard ChickensIn cities that allow chickens, what do the rules often limit?Backyard ChickensIn North Carolina, can local rules restrict sales of backyard eggs?

That's stuff everyone should know.