Enlighten me please

[Urban Chaos]

I recently received (3 days ago) an Old English Game Bantam hen - about 1 year old.

1) how long after being re-homed do chickens typically start laying (she was already for my friend 5-6/wk)

2) she likes to roost in trees - can this breed typically fly over a 6 ft privacy? I dont want to clip her wings if I dont have too, but I'd rather that than have the neighbors dogs get a free meal.


3) if I need to clip her - one or both wings?

victoria

 

[wayneh]

1. it should not take long. it will help if you have a coop to put her in for 3 or 4 days. this will let her know that this is her new home.
2. my thoughts, if she can fly into a tree, a 6 foot fence will be no problem. you might need to fatten her up so she can't lift off.
3. if you clip her, only clip one wing. we had a bird that we had to clip. we clipped both wings, she still could fly, just not as well. with one wing clipped, it will make them unstable and not too flyable. hope you don't have to clip.
if you have a coop, she should roost in that when she knows its home.
good luck and happy chicky day.

 

[HHandbasket]

Quote:
Hi Victoria! When I have brought in chickens from other places, it's typically anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks before they resume laying. When we moved, I thought it would interfere with their laying, as well, but it didn't. They didn't miss a single day of laying!

All my birds get their right wing clipped except the ones I plan to show. We live in the mountains and are surrounded by woods, and if one of my chooks got over the fence and into the woods, it'd be fox food or a raccoon snack for sure. For their own safety AND for my peace of mind, they get a wing clipped. If you clip both wings, they can work at it and compensate and still get airborne! If you only clip one wing, they'll just go around in circles & never get off the ground. When they molt, you need to re-clip because the flight feathers grow back after molting.

 

[silkeysandra]

you can catch your hen at dark when she roosts and put her in a coop. Our coop is part of our storage building. I am using old rabbit cages with a roosting stick inside, plus food and water holders. I kept my newbies in their 'house' for two days minimum. They were smart and went back into the coop/storage building at night. I was happy. If they don't, give them 3 days in the coop. I closed the storage building but left their cage open so they could stretch their legs and explore for some fun. Never had to do it for longer than 3 days. let us know how it goes.
I would clip their wing be careful. i think theres a video somewhere on how or at least an illustration somewhere. keep us updated.

 

[Judy]

There are instructions on here in the learning center, top of this page, first topic.

 

[Jerseycoop]

Quote:
Hi Victoria! When I have brought in chickens from other places, it's typically anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks before they resume laying. When we moved, I thought it would interfere with their laying, as well, but it didn't. They didn't miss a single day of laying!

All my birds get their right wing clipped except the ones I plan to show. We live in the mountains and are surrounded by woods, and if one of my chooks got over the fence and into the woods, it'd be fox food or a raccoon snack for sure. For their own safety AND for my peace of mind, they get a wing clipped. If you clip both wings, they can work at it and compensate and still get airborne! If you only clip one wing, they'll just go around in circles & never get off the ground. When they molt, you need to re-clip because the flight feathers grow back after molting.

I need to do this for my girls as well..3 aggressive dogs sit on the other side of my 6' privacy fence.

at what age can you start clipping? Thanks for any advice

 

[Urban Chaos]

thanks all - she we did manage to put her in the coop the first 2 nights - but last night, man we had written her off. At dusk when we lock up our birds we noticed she was nowhere to be seen. So, my boys (3,5,11) and I armed ourselves with flashlights and searched high - literally and low. I was holding up the oldest so he could peek in the neighbors yard and shine the light around, had the little one crawling under tomato plants, and the middle one looking in every possible hiding place. We were calling her by every name we thought a chicken would answer to, my 3 year old yelling ficken ficken (he has a slight speech problem) . We went to bed down trodden, thinking our beautiful new girl was gone. This am, I decided to bring the dogs in - just in case she was still alive and decided to come out - and not 1/2 hr later, I hear her cluck. I ran out back, heedless of my of my appearence - sports bra and hubbies boxers; there she was, under our peach tree. I almost killed her right there for giving us such a fright. Thing is, I looked in that dang tree about 400x. Tonight the plan is to round her up earlier than the others. I may just clip to be sure, getting my bp up over the whereabouts of a chook is probably not a good idea.


Thanks ddawn for the point in the right direction

 

[HHandbasket]

I clipped my birds' wings at about 12 weeks. When they started showing signs of being able to fly more than 10 feet across the yard and/or more than 2-3 feet up off the ground, it was clippin' time. I usually have to clip a few times the first year because they do tend to grow back.

Now that my birds are older, they don't even TRY to get over the fence anymore (for the most part... bantams are another story, cuz some breeds of bantams will get up and fly like regular birds and just take off if you don't clip 'em... sebrights are notorious escapees via flight).

 

[Pele]

Unfortunately you've gotten a hen from a breed that is notorious for being excellent fliers. If anyone posts about finding a chicken in a tree here, 90% of the time its a game bird. I would definitely clip her wings.

The others who have already posted have given you excellent advise. Good luck!

 

[Cadjien_De_Louisiane]

when I took my 6 american game hens home they where a year and a half old and it took 2.5weeks till they started laying again. Give it time. I think it depends on suroundings and how comfortable they are, chickns dont like change to well. Of course I had my yellow lab walking constantley around the pen didnt help..