Chicken was bothered by son (6)
I believe the answer is:
scared
'chicken' is the definition.
(chicken can mean cowardly or scared)
'was bothered by son' is the wordplay.
'was bothered' becomes 'cared' (to be bothered by something is to care about).
'by' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'son' becomes 's' (genealogical abbreviation for son).
'cared' after 's' is 'SCARED'.
(Other definitions for scared that I've seen before include "Fearful, anxious" , "Frightened or intimidated" , "Afraid of cedars" , "Frightened or apprehensive" , "in fright" .)