clipping turkey wing feathers.

[pepperpeeps87]

I'm going to be building a coop about the size of a large shed with a yard fenced off with it but I would like to have my birds free range as well. I'll be on 2 acres of land but the fence is only about 4 feet tall. I know that turkeys like to roost high and heritage breeds can fly. So I was wanting to clip their wings to keep them on our property during the day and herd them into the coop at night. Would this be stressful to the birds? Cutting the flight feathers?

 

[ivan3]

If you do a search, there are threads about clipping How-to. However, even a clipped wing turk will simply hop over a 4 ft. fence. If they are going to free range it's best to leave them with their best defense (fly from pred). If they imprint on you/property/location of food they are less likely to roam. Only way to be sure is 6ft. fencing with flight netting over run. Adult toms will tend to stay put with 4ft. fencing, but the hens aren't so restrained. Regardless, if one turkey remains in the run, the others will usually not wander to far away (most of the time).

 

[R2elk]

I'm going to be building a coop about the size of a large shed with a yard fenced off with it but I would like to have my birds free range as well. I'll be on 2 acres of land but the fence is only about 4 feet tall. I know that turkeys like to roost high and heritage breeds can fly. So I was wanting to clip their wings to keep them on our property during the day and herd them into the coop at night. Would this be stressful to the birds? Cutting the flight feathers?

I have found that when I have a problem flyer that clipping one wing will stop the flight problems. I typically only have to clip a wing one time and by the time the turkey molts it has either forgotten that it can fly or perhaps it may have lost the desire to fly.

Ivan3 is correct that a turkey can just hop a 4' fence. What I have found is more likely is that if the fence has a top rail it is very common for the turkeys to hop up on the top rail to perch for awhile. The problem is when they get down on the wrong side of the fence and then get really stupid and can't figure how to get back through the fence.