Clipping wings

[soccrkep1]

Hello,

I have 4 ducks that I purchased for their egg laying abilities, and because I was under the impression that they wouldn't be able to fly over a privacy fence because they are a bit heavier than wild ducks. I have a Welsh Harlequin, 2 Buffs, and 1 White Layer. They are all pretty good-sized ducks, except the smaller Welsh, but they have all managed to fly out of my yard and into the woods on the church property behind my house. The white layer once by herself, and all 4 yesterday. There is a busy road that runs along the church property, plus my neighbors don't know about them, so this is not going to work. I've read about clipping a wing and watched some videos. It freaks me out, honestly. Mainly because mine are not very tame and don't let me hold them. Is this going to be possible for me to do today? Is it possible to do alone? AHHHHHH. So worried.

 

[Amykins]

If you're in a rural area, a lot of groomers and vets offer the service for cheap, sometimes even for free! If your birds are light-colored then you have no reason to be nervous as blood feathers are easy to spot, although I can certainly understand it. I'm sure you've seen Irwinke's demonstration using her call ducks, and if yours are rowdy then just get a second pair of hands to help! That's the only way I can get Wobs to get his nails clipped. Otherwise you get a pigeon-sized whirlwind of feathers and quacks!

 

[rainbowrooster]

You only need to clip the feathers on one wing. Kneel on the ground with the bird between your knees, hold one wing out and cut the feathers with a pair if scissors. That's it

 

[buff goose guy]

Actually there are different methods to wing clipping for one i clip one wing on the muscovys but for our mallards, they get both wings clipped so if a predator was nearby they could fly to get away, they cannot fly far like this or upwards they can only fly in a straight line for about 25 feet.

We do this because the mallards are full free range and are able to go in and out of the coop at will no matter what time of day don't worry guys they are still safe we have guard dogs and guard geese and if something seems wrong , like they are really jumpy or a sensors of our cameras go off, or if we hear anything, they do go up.

the muscovys since only one wings are clipped go up at night because with only the one clipped the could only fly for about a foot horzontally then crash because they are unbalanced.

( this is all from my experience with my ducks(children) )
My most important advice : be careful for blood feathers.