I love the idea of cockatrices. They're often conflated with basilisks, which is true in some of their folklore, but others have them as opposites in a way, with the cockatrice being hatched from a cock egg by a toad or snake, and the basilisk being a snake egg hatched by a rooster. But generally the difference is that a basilisk is a big snake, and a cockatrice is a mix between a chicken and a dragon. So obviously a cockatrice is cooler.
This pattern was adapted from Stella's pattern here. The changes include the feet and the way they are incorporated into the structure as a whole at the start, and then the tail (the main event!), but I've copied out the whole thing to make it easier to follow in one go below.
Feet
(chain 4 sl back 3) x3
SL join 3 base stitches
Chain 15
(chain 4 sl back 3) x3
SL join 3 base stitches
SC back along leg chain
SL join to foot base
Body
Magic circle 6 around leg chain
(sc2 inc1) x2
Magic circle 6 around leg chain
(sc2 inc1) x2
[should work kinda like this:]
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Head
SC round 21 st, joining the st into a loop
(sc5 dec1) x3
(sc4 dec1) x3
(sc3 dec1) x3
(sc2 dec1) x3
SC round (9)
Sc to back of head, finish off
Comb
Hold opposite sides of head together – the comb will be used to join them
Start at the back, work towards the face
(SC through both sides of head, ch 2) x4
SC to finish
(Chain 4, turn, sk HDC SC SL) x2
Finish off, stitch down either side of beak
Beak
I kind of embroidered one? But by tying knots with the stitches rather than just flat stitches
Eyes
Embroider
Wings
Chain 3
SC2, ch 1 turn
Inc in each st, ch 1 turn
Inc 1 SC 2 inc 1, ch 1 turn
SC 6, ch 1 turn
SC 1 sk SC 2 sk SC, ch 1 turn
SC 4, ch 1 turn
sk SC 1 sk SC 1
SC outline around edge, finish off, stitch to body
Tail
Continue from 15 st ‘body’ loop
SC 9 rounds (15)
(hdc6 sc1 sl6 sc2, sc15) x3
Dec 1 HDC 5 dec 1 SL 6
SC 13
SC 2 HDC 5 SC 1 SL 5
SC 13, shift round start SC 2
SC 1 HDC 5 SC 1 SL 6
SC 13
Dec 1 HDC 5 dec 1 SL 4
SC 11
(sc2 hdc5 sc1 sl4, sc11) x2 (yes the extra stitch is deliberate)
Dec 1 HDC 4 dec 1 SL 3
SC 9
SC 1 HDC 4 SC 1 SL 3
SC 9 x2 (I would recommend stuffing here-ish)
(sc1 dec1) x3
SC 6 x3
(sc1 dec1) x2
Dec 2
Finish