Tiny ‘diva hen’ wins fans after video shows it taking on horse in New Hampshire barn

It’s no surprise that a food fight between a chicken and a horse would become a hit on social media.

But what is unexpected is that the bossy 2-pound chicken won.

The video, posted July 3 on Facebook, shows the rivals going nose to beak over a feed bucket in a New Hampshire barn.

It’s not clear how long the standoff lasted, but livestock owner Marie Tasker arrived in time to see the chicken pecking the 1,200-pound horse on the snout every time it got too close.

The poor horse, named Snickers, was intimidated enough to keep backing away. Tasker eventually had to intervene and remove the chicken, but she was laughing the whole time.

“She thinks she’s a diva hen,” Tasker told McClatchy News, noting the fowl’s name is Little Kicking Wing. “The hen likes to claim areas of the barn as hers when they clearly are not, such as Snickers’ grain bin, our barn cats’ bed and food, my strawberry gardens. She thinks the farm is all for her and isn’t afraid of anything, not even our four German shepherds.”

Tasker and her husband, Kevin, shared the video on a New Hampshire community Facebook page with 85,000 followers, resulting in a lot of jokes about the “crazy chicken” and “hen-pecked nag.”

What makes the situation even funnier is Tasker bought the hen to keep Snickers from being lonely. Snickers is the only horse at the Tasker family’s “hobby farm,” which is near the New Hampshire coast.

“Horses are herd animals and I knew she would need a friend to keep her happy, so we decided to get her a couple chickens,” Tasker said. “Snickers absolutely loves her hens and watches out for them.”

Kicking Wing is a 5-year old bantam and lives among 38 hens — all much larger than she is, Tasker said. Snickers is a 9-year-old Iberian Warmblood.

“Snickers puts up with so much with all our animals. Thankfully, she’s simply the sweetest horse and wouldn’t hurt a fly.... or a tiny bantam hen,” Tasker said.

Meanwhile, finding Kicking Wing in unexpected places at the farm has now become common, due to the fact she can fly, Tasker said.

“Our barn is heated, but in the winter she likes to sit inside my oversized coat,” Tasker said. “I have ... walked into the house only to have her fall out when I unzip my coat.”

This story was originally published July 12, 2021 at 3:47 PM with the headline "Tiny ‘diva hen’ wins fans after video shows it taking on horse in New Hampshire barn."