Clipping wings

[countrygirl911]

I have a question prpbably a stupid and crazy question but does it hurt the chickens to clip one of the wings on the chickens i feel it inhumane to do it but i have to do something to keep them from getting out the the run during the day and it will cost alot to close the top of the run in since my hubby lost his job we are on a tight budget. The fence is about 7 feet tall but when they jump up on top of the coop door that is opened thy only have another foot or two and they will be out. Any ideas will be greatly appreciated just want to make sure they stay safe and are not hurt. Below is a pic of the coop we took a storage shed from lowes and concerted from the pics you can not see the vent holes but they are there the door to the coop on the inside attached to the building was made from scratch with 2 X 4's and chicken wire it a 5 ft by 5 ft door again thanks in advance for any help or sugestions.

pics of my girls and one boy

escape artist in the back ground my americauna

my older ones waiting for them to get old enought to get first egg

 

[Daisygirl]

I clipped my chooks' wings...on both sides! I think theres an article in the learning centre about clipping their wings, but the thing I do is grip the corner of one of their wings, then chop off all the flight feathers about 5cms up. If they dont like having their wings handled, wrap them in a towel and get someone else to hold them while you chop with some kitchen sissors. Do both wings if they still can get up there with one...oh, and if you cut too high, the feathers might bleed, but this can be stopped by putting some baking soda/powder on it. And careful after you cut the wings; if they flap their wings, it scratches quite badly, but this should go away after up to a week...

I had to learn this the hard way

Clipping their wings doesnt hurt them, so long as you dont get too much off...they're more scared of the sound the scissors make!!!!

Another thing you could do is put bird netting over the top of the run, or just above the section with the door, so they cant jump up...they wont get caught in it or anything, at least from my experience

Oh, and dont lean over the fence when you feed them, as it teaches them that they could get over the fence as well...
Your girls (and boy) are lovely!!!

Its the same problems I had

Good luck!!!

 

[aduplantis]

I clipped one of the wings of each of my chickens. I spend lots of time and money so I don't blame you. I just cut the first 10 flight feathers on one side. I never had a problem with bleeding.

 

[countrygirl911]

thank you so much for your advice i really appreciate it when we feed them we go inside the coop and fill up their feed bucket and their water bucket. again thanks for the advice if you cut one wing will that keep them from flying hubby said if you do that it throws off their ballence when they try to fly is that true.

 

[countrygirl911]

which ones are the flight feathers and do i cut them straight or round them off

 

[bildo6]

we just did our hens a few weeks ago. i have a 6 foot fence around the yard they play in all day. they never gave a thought to flying over even though they could. until my fathers dog chased one of them. thankfully she roosted on a fence post and i was able to get her down.

instead of doing just the flight feathers my father has always trimmed all the feathers. 1"-2" off depending on which feathers. it is really easy to do. we gathered the birds in the coop and did them one at a time. no real problems. now we dont have to worry about them getting over the fence. or on the patio table anymore

my questions is at what age do you trim feathers? we have 5 born near fathers day and 1 that was born a few weeks ago. ide like for the little ones to NOT be able to get out of their special run just yet. the adults dont like them too much yet and they can fit through the chainlink fence on the backside of the property

 

[Kedreeva]

Cut the feathers from the edge of the wing in to about the 10th feather or so. This should clip all the primaries and leave them flightless. It also will not hurt them, but only cut the feathers about halfway down the shaft. You will have to do this EVERY time they molt, or they will just grow them back- and you need to wait for a little bit after they molt before doing it again, because the shafts will have blood in them for a little bit.

If you have no top to the coop, you will probably have to worry about predators that come in from above- like hawks. Also any predator that can go in over the top during daylight hours, which can be rats, weasels, mink, and sometimes even raccoons if they are out during the day (and we sometimes see them, so despite them being nocturnal I know they forage some in daylight hours). You can deter hawks by stringing white rope over the top of the coop- hawks will generally not stoop into someplace where they can't take off easily.

You can clip the feathers as soon as you are sure there is no blood in them.