Clipping wings

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katie197888

katie197888

In the Brooder
8 Years
Mar 21, 2011
75
0
39
Upperco, MD
So one of my mallards got away from us never to be seen again. Her sister also flew away one day, slipped through the smallest gap between zip ties where the roof and fence meet in the run. Miraculously she flew right back around, we put the others in the coop and left the door open and she walked right back in the run, WOW. We need to get their wings clipped but I saw a video on youtube and am paranoid I will make them bleed to death. There is a vet in our area that does it but I can't afford to get 6 ducks done. Advice?

Also a little side note, these guys are so funny. They cant stand change! I put gravel by their pool because it was getting too muddy and they wouldnt go near their pool. And they wouldnt walk on it! I just put in a kiddie pool and instead of enjoying the cool water on a hot day they stayed as far away from it as possible for nearly a week. LOL
 
These are the best images I have found for showing details of trimming wings.

929ac626.jpg


594b85d9.jpg
 
Just trim a couple inches off....its really not hard....the people that see blood have simply just tried to cut down to the bottom. I've trimmed our scovies, turkeys, and a chicken....and a couple of mallards
 
The first time can be a little scary, just because it's something new, but once you do it to the first one, the rest will be a piece of cake.

When we do ours, my husband holds the duck. I pull the wing open and do a quick peek underneath to make sure I don't see any blood feathers (not sure how old your birds are). Then I trim a few inches off the first ten primary flight feathers, using regular scissors. It takes a little muscle, but it's not hard. That first image that CelticOaksFarm posted is actually the image I learned by. Printed it up, brought it outside with us. It's easy to see the different sets of feathers once you have the wing open.

You'll do fine!!
 
Well, thank you, CelticOakFarm, for your picture~ I printed it and took it with me, along with corn starch and my best (fabric only) scissors. We had to clip the left wing of our Americana x3. One flew up to rest on the neighbor's fence yesterday. Nope, can't have them venturing into their yard. It went very well though the first chicken didn't like it at all. She went out into the chicken run to sooth her ruffled feathers. None were injured if you exclude the emotional trauma of having your rest disrupted. There was a bit of sympathetic cooing going on afterwards. Glad to have this first procedure under my belt and behind me! Everyone's comments were very helpful and I couldn't have done it without my Husband!
 

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