Hot Potato vs. Dremel Tool

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scooterward

scooterward

Songster
12 Years
Apr 13, 2010
175
10
186
Lenoir City, TN
We need to de-spur our NH Red rooster, Wyatt. He's almost a year old though his spurs aren't full grown, just hard nubs right now. He SEVERLY gashed open one of my hens and so it's time to remove his spurs.

Of these two methods, what it the most preferred?

Thanks!
 
You won't be able to truly remove his spurs for good. Either method allows them to grow back. I have done both and find that taking the sharp point off with the dremel and making it blunt works the best. Ive also snipped them off with wire cutters, but this leaves a jagged finished edge instead of a truly blunt end. You are not going to the base of the spur, as they have a quick and will bleed, sometimes very profusely.
 
I agree. Use the Dremel tool to cut the tip off and blunt the spur. Do the same with his toenails. Blunt them. As long as you don't get too deep, it is just like trimming your own toenails. Just stay out of the quick. Odds are he is doing the damage with his claws instead of the spurs anyway.

I wrap the rooster in a towel to keep him calm and under control. He stays calm and does not flinch, even ay the sound of the tool.
 
When our boys have spurs that have grown too long we use pliers to remove them. Use a pair of pliers, hold the spur near the leg firmly, but not too hard and twist gently around. The outer shell of the spur will come off. It may bleed slightly, use blood stop powder if you are concerned. Use may not even need pliers, check out this video.


 
If your roo just has nubs for spurs could they really have been the things that severely gashed your hen? Perhaps some further investigative work should be done.

When my roos' spurs get really long & sharp, when it seems the hens are getting too worn, or when the spurs get so long they impede his walking, I remove the outer sheath with pliers like this
I keep some blood stop powder or flour handy in case there's a lot of bleeding. It's not like pulling out a nail or claw, it's like removing a layer of callused skin.
 
After you remove the outside of the spur is that the quick (sp?) left behind? Is it painful for the roo? Does the quick shrink up? It looks just as long as the spur from the video. Sorry for the silly questions.
 
I use the hot potato method, and the spurs have never grown back. No bleeding. No pliers. The spur sheath comes off with a twist of the fingers. Plier folks- try the hot potato method, you may be won over. Really easy. Only drawback- you waste a potato or two. No wait- not wasted- I fed them to the chickens, once they cooled off.
 
Ok, so it doesn't seem to be the spurs after reading the responses. I looked at his nails. They are short, as in there isn't any more trimming I can do. But now I have a second hen with a gash. Not as bad as the first hen but in the same place, just opposite side.

Now I need to repost the topic of segregating a rooster but not entirely. He is clearly hurting my hens.

When/if it comes time to de-spur, I will certainly come back to this.

Thanks for the responses!
 
It's when you nuke a potato til hot/cooked then stick it on the spur for 3-5 minutes then twist it off. You can look it up and there's tons of posts and even some you tubes on it.
 

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