Wing clipping

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OldMcDnld

OldMcDnld

Chirping
Dec 27, 2015
108
2
51
Southern CA
So it's time to stop my escape artist from doing just that.. escaping. She's Game fowl and can fly with the best of them. I can't have her in the front yard or down the street anymore. Catching her is pretty much impossible. In the past it took an hour just to get her into the broody breaker. That was without actually handling her, just tricking her into the cage and closing the door.

I need some tips on turning a futile chase into actually catching a flighty chicken

Also, advise on clipping the wing(s)
 

Start off by clipping the primary feathers on one wing. Usually that will ground a chicken, but sometimes a very flighty hen can manage to scale a 4 foot fence even with one wing clipped. In that case, I will then clip the primaries on both wings, and sometimes even the secondaries on one wing.
 
Flighty chickens are literally the worst! I remember the year we lived in the suburbs with one. She made dying sounds if you came within five feet. Clipping the wings didn't help this crazy bird I had, and we called he Nutty for that reason. She was a standard flighty game hen like yours, so I imagine you'll have the same issue.

But, why not try? The idea is to cut one wing so he flying is unstable. People often fail to mention that some chickens can still fly even with cut wings. :/ Game chickens hate being confined from my experience. The best thing to do is see if she'll settle for being stuck in the pen for the rest of her life or rehome her to someone who has free roaming chickens.


Here's a picture if you want to give the wing cut a whorl:
 
I have game fowl, but mine are a behaved group. They sure can fly though. I know it is a benefit for them to escape predators. Yes, I have clipped wings in the past. I usually did to new comers so they would learn where home is. After the feathers grew back, I did not need to cut any more times. If you must clip, then try clipping just one wing. They will not be able to fly much with one wing clipped. You only clip the flight feather ends on the wing. Do not clip too short, because you may cut into the part of feather that would start to bleed.
As to catching a loose escaped chicken, I have used a large fishing net.
I have posted in a thread about clipping wings, but it may be 1,000 threads ago, I will see if I can find it and I will edit and add the link to that thread here.
WISHING YOU BEST....
thumbsup.gif
 
She(Bonnie) has never had a reason to leave until recently. Her sister(Phoebe) is currently brooding 5 two week old chicks from shipped eggs and is a fiercely protective mother. I have been running Bonnie into the coop every night since the chicks hatched because she now prefers to roost in the trees. She spends her days alone on the opposite side of the property hopping the fence and getting chased by me to get back in the yard.

th.gif


And yes, the only time shes ever been actually held involved blood curdling screams of terror
barnie.gif




Great layer though!!
thumbsup.gif
 

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