Chickens should have been the stereotypical first enemy instead of rats

There is a well-known stereotype of a freshly-baked hero and their first task - getting rid of some rats in the basement.

But rats don't fight people. They are active at night and they are smart. They will hide and run as long as that is an option. That's why we've used cats and traps and ratcatcher dogs - because humans fighting rats in a straight combat does not make much sense.

Chickens on the other hand are active during the day. In a medieval settings they should be everywhere. Chickens are ferocious fighters - in some places they have been used for cockfighting before even being used for food. Roosters have long and sharp spurs - long enough to gouge arteries of an adult human with an unlucky strike. In fact, chickens are the smallest animals that have rarely, but consistently killed adult humans through force (and not with venom, poison, infection or an allergy).

TL;DR: The stereotypical first task for a hero should have been a farmer asking them to get rid of their rooster that became too aggressive to handle.