How To Remove Damaged Primary Feathers?

[hannahsocal]

Hello y’all! I have an absolutely gorgeous hen that I’m planning on showing in the next few months at a few exhibitions. The issue is that my dad mistakingly clipped her wings because he mixed her up with a different girl. So she has 8 primary wing feathers (4 on each side) that are cut in half. Obviously I can’t show her like this, and I can’t wait until she molts naturally because then she won’t be eligible for the pullet category anymore. How can I safely remove these “damaged” flight feathers so that new ones grow in their place?

 

[Reave]

I do think just waiting and showing her later is the most humane option; even if you do manage to yank them out, which would invariably be very painful for her and difficult enough to make the risk of injury very real, doing so won't make her molt any faster.

The primary feathers are so difficult to remove (from a carcass or otherwise) because they have special tissue to control their movement that attaches to the bones of their wings. Chickens and other ground birds don't always have the visible demarcations on the bone that show this, unlike more actively flighted birds like turkey vultures, but nevertheless the same holds true for them too. They are called quill knobs, and you can find 'em on theropod bones (like velociraptor) too!

This is a problem for wild birds that rely on their wings to survive too, you will see hawks and such with badly damaged flight feathers treated in wildlife rehab by inserting a thin metal wire into an old shed flight feather to add support, and then gluing that feather into the remaining quill of the broken feather so that they can be released and continue to fly (and thus feed themselves). When they naturally go through a molt, they release these spliced feathers just the same way since they are using the old, damaged quill still held onto by the body and they are replaced by new ones.

I'm not saying you should splice your chicken's feathers, of course, she will survive happily without any intervention... But I would love to see a judge's face that was examining a bird and came across that, lol. Would they think your bird had a dramatic disqualifying fault you were trying to hide? Would they even notice? Hahaha.

 

[FunClucks]

They're going to hurt when you pull them out. Probably quite a lot.

Honestly, I wouldn't do it. I know you were super excited to show her, but sometimes life just happens, and it sucks for a while.

Not trying to upset you here, but thought you might like to know (I'm about to talk about processing meat birds, so if that's a problem, please skip the rest)


I raise meat birds. As part of skinning them, I have to remove the primary feathers from the wing. They are so entrenched in the skin and the bone that I can't pull them off with the skin like I do easily with all the rest of the feathers, I actually have to cut them away from the bone with a very sharp knife. Maybe you'll have better luck removing them one at a time if you pull hard and quickly, but based on how hard they are to remove even after the chicken doesn't care about it, that is something I will never do to a chicken by choice.

 

[HeathenHavenHomestead]

For the safety of the animal do not rip these out. Is showing a bird more important than causing it great distress and pain? When it comes to healthy over beauty always pick health.

 

[Reave]

This is fascinating, where does one learn these things?

I've always had an interest in this kinda thing, comparative anatomy is an awesome topic & I'll take any excuse to interject about it, hah! But really, I mostly just read a lot & always have, and my fave subjects were always of the nonfiction & zoological (or paleozoological as the case may be) nature. One of my current fave science communicators has a blog I like to keep tabs on, if any of that is also up your alley; Tetropod Zoology!

As for the wildlife rehab stuff, I went to school for captive animal enrichment (zoo psych) & exotic animal care; wildlife rehab was sort of part & parcel with that! My ma also did a lot of volunteering in that field with a primate center, so I guess I sort of come by it honestly.
There will always be a lot left to learn, but that is a bonus for me!

 

[Amer]

Pull them out with your fingers.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

This is fascinating, where does one learn these things?

 

[SourRoses]

I've always had an interest in this kinda thing, comparative anatomy is an awesome topic & I'll take any excuse to interject about it, hah! But really, I mostly just read a lot & always have, and my fave subjects were always of the nonfiction & zoological (or paleozoological as the case may be) nature. One of my current fave science communicators has a blog I like to keep tabs on, if any of that is also up your alley; Tetropod Zoology!

As for the wildlife rehab stuff, I went to school for captive animal enrichment (zoo psych) & exotic animal care; wildlife rehab was sort of part & parcel with that! My ma also did a lot of volunteering in that field with a primate center, so I guess I sort of come by it honestly.
There will always be a lot left to learn, but that is a bonus for me!

Off topic, but now that I see this I was wondering if you have any ideas for my friend in Indiana. Yesterday evening she was driving and a goose hit her car (the other goose flew low but this one missed). She stayed with it for a few hours trying to call every rehab she could get the number for, but none were answering, and animal control wouldn't come out for a goose.
He was alert and flapping his wings (she took video), and no blood or lost feathers, but he was limping and didn't seem to think he could fly after his mate. She flew back after an hour or so and they were both still hanging out on the grounds of Duke Power Company on Hwy 40 in Plainfield Indiana. She suspected they would stay put as it was quite late when my friend left.

She's still looking for places to call if you might know of anything?

 

[Reave]

Off topic, but now that I see this I was wondering if you have any ideas for my friend in Indiana. Yesterday evening she was driving and a goose hit her car (the other goose flew low but this one missed). She stayed with it for a few hours trying to call every rehab she could get the number for, but none were answering, and animal control wouldn't come out for a goose.
He was alert and flapping his wings (she took video), and no blood or lost feathers, but he was limping and didn't seem to think he could fly after his mate. She flew back after an hour or so and they were both still hanging out on the grounds of Duke Power Company on Hwy 40 in Plainfield Indiana. She suspected they would stay put as it was quite late when my friend left.

She's still looking for places to call if you might know of anything?

Ahh, poor goose. I'm not familiar with Indiana unfortunately, but I tried to dig up a few places for you-- a lot of wildlife rehabs can't accept birds of prey or waterfowl right now because of avian flu restrictions.

Rose Hensel specializes in waterfowl & shore birds, but she is in Lanesville; 812-949-8618 ~ I'm not positive how up to date that number is, or if she is accepting birds at all right now. If she is still working rehab there, even if she isn't accepting birds there is a chance she can get your friend in touch with someone that is.

Kristen Heitman is another number to try, 317-902-3825 -- she is in Indianapolis, also works with waterfowl.

Stephanie Sanderson does waterfowl exclusively, she is from Evansville; 812-459-6717

 

[Gigachad poultry]

Honestly life is life and you probably won't be able to do any exibitatons soon. Pulling them out will hurt and trimming them won't do anything to speed up the process. You can give your chickens leg bands to tell hen apart to stop that from happening again. Then you can tell whoever is going to cut them, to cut only ones with the selected leg bands.