Cut spurs?

[jak2002003]

My Japanese Bantam rooster is having problems walking and keeping up with the other chickens. When I picked him up I was shocked to see how long and curved his spurs are.

Because he has such short legs, the sharp tips of the spurs are poking him in his behind if he tries to run or walk fast. Poor thing!!

How can I make the spurs smaller? I want to cut them off some how, but what can I use and how short can I cut them?

I DO NOT want to do the twisting off the spurs with pliers thing - I watched some videos and it looks nasty (I hate the sight of blood and am not confident to do this method on my own as I have no one to help me).

Thanks in advance. (also sorry if this is in the wrong section and I was not sure where it fit.

 

[Ridgerunner]

What I do is use a Dremel tool with the discs used to cut metal. Wrap the rooster in a towel to keep him still and just trim them off. It's over in seconds.

You don't need to remove the entire spur, just enough to stop the problem. I can't give you any hard and fast mumbers as to how much you can take off since it seems to vary for each rooster, but I normally take off half or less and hardly ever have any bleeding. It's a lot like cutting your fingernail. As long as you don't get in the quick, it doesn't bleed.

I have occasionally had a drop or two of blood, never enough that I felt I needed to do anything about it. It's a good idea to have some flour handy to throw on it to stop the bleeding if it does bleed, better safe than sorry, but I've never had to use it.

I trim the sharp edge off their toenails while I'm at it. Again, I don't take much off, just enough to make it blunt, not sharp. I find that my young roosters do more damage to the hens with their toenails than their spurs. Usually they don't even have much of a spur when they are causing problems. When they mature those problems stop.

My roosters don't even flinch when I trim the spurs or toenails. When I'm finished I just take him back to the flock and turn him loose. He always immediately mates with a hen to show he is still boss and then goes about his business.

 

[jak2002003]

thanks for the advise. I will go and ask my neighbour if he has one of those tools!