Can I Trim Their Wing Feathers?

[suzettex5]

Just wondering if its ok to trim just the flight feathers on full grown guineas? I am getting 5 new 9 months olds, and while their enclosure is fairly escape proof, I would like to trim the flight feathers as extra insurance against them flying off. I'm not worried about predators or anything like that, I was just thinking that it might be easier to catch them if one should happen to slip past me into the big part of the pen (the pen has no roof, and 4 foot fencing with no-climb on it).

Is this a bad idea? I have done it for my chickens, but these are my first guineas and I dont want to hurt them if it shouldnt be done.

And how high can a guinea jump? I havent seen it before, so I dont know. I am getting the new birds this weekend and plan to keep them penned for at least a month to 2 months to be sure they return home once they begin free ranging.

Advice?

 

[shelleyd2008]

If you are SURE you have them secured to where they cannot get out then yes, it is okay to trim their feathers. However, guineas often use flight as their escape route so if they do get out and something gets after them they will have no choice but to try and outrun it. Sometimes it works, but sometimes it doesn't. The feathers will grow back fairly quickly though, so you might consider fixing the big pen so they just can't fly out. For a 1-2 month time frame you'll have to cut their feathers at least 4 times (every 2 weeks).

As for jumping, I have no idea. Mine are all flighted birds so they usually fly if they want to go up.