Clipping wings..............don't know where to start

[AltonaAcres]

I have a flighty Leghorn pullet as well as a young Royal palm hen. They keep flying on top of the run and I'm worried one of these times I won't be able to retrieve them and they'll have to stay out all night with the coons and bobcats. How do I go about clipping the wings w/o making them look atrocious and feel trapped?

 

[CindyinSD]

I have a flighty Leghorn pullet as well as a young Royal palm hen. They keep flying on top of the run and I'm worried one of these times I won't be able to retrieve them and they'll have to stay out all night with the coons and bobcats. How do I go about clipping the wings w/o making them look atrocious and feel trapped?

You clip the flight feathers of one wing. This throws them off balance and will possibly stop them hopping out. Clipping once may do the job for you (the feathers recover quickly in young, growing birds). They get the idea they can't fly, so they don't try, or that's the theory. I've never tried it, but I've read there are varying degrees of success (or not). Anyway look up where the flight feathers are if you're not sure you know, and cut them about halfway.

The downside to this trim is that it makes it harder for the birds to escape predators.

 

[AltonaAcres]

Ok, good to know. That's a hard choice knowing I have lots of predators. Hmmmmmmmmm

 

[Ruthster55]

Please don’t try to clip wings if your run isn’t already built to be safe from predators......

Assuming that you have a secure run that is safe from predators, you might want to clip your chickens’ wings so they stay in a safe place:

Basically, you clip the really long primaries at the point where the tips of the secondaries are located. Then for good measure you can cut the tippy-tips of the secondaries. Just use a decent pair of scissors that is adequate for cutting paper.

Why is this a harmless way to keep your birds inside their run rather than going to the back 40 and out and beyond?

You will be clipping the feathers way out beyond the blood quills that are much closer to the bird’s body. When you only cut the big primary feathers and the tips of the secondaries, it’s like cutting fingernails ...painless (as long as you don’t hit the quick). In birds the equivalent to the quick of our fingernails is the “blood quills” that are close to the body. Don’t hit those!

I have done both wings if the bird is really flighty but one wing should be sufficient for most. It is easiest to do this either at night or when bringing in new birds and re-cooping them into quarantine quarters.

I joke that their pilot’s license has been taken away....

This post shows how to do this.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/clipping-wings-under-construction.1387199/#post-22778376

 

[City Farmer Jim]

How old are they and how high is the fence? We choose to clip and have good success kinda. We clipped just one wing ...to start with on the MOST ADVENTUROUS pullet hoping it would deter her..WRONG ..so we clipped both and yes the feathers grew back rather quickly but now fast enough for her put on enough weight to not reach escape height or velocity. We have only 3 birds out of 10 that have not been clipped and they show no desire to leave the good life EVER. Lol. It's better to leave them a bit to long than to make them bleed.

 

[AltonaAcres]

Our run is predator safe. However there are still birds of prey and bobcats that can basically get in no matter what we do or try. We got a dog recently and haven't had issues since. I am still trying to decide.................

 

[BellaBlueBell]

I clipped my 3 hens' wings two weeks ago after they kept going over the fence. They have not done it again. I'm glad I clipped as it's not easy to corral determined chicks once they leave the yard.

Hubby held the hen, I pulled out the left wing and cut the long flight feathers. They did not flinch, so I'm guessing they didn't feel it at all. It took less than 5 minutes. I read that it is like us clipping our toenails. There are YouTube videos that show how to do this safely, step by step.