Darn it... I clipped both their wings!!

[Onlyimpressive]

So, we extended out chick yard, our first 'yard' had an enclosed top, but the new one didn't ... sure enough they started flying out... scared that our neighbor dog would notice and coming running over to kill them, I ran down to the house, quickly looked on here on how to do it... and rushed back out to clip them..... BUT, i didn't realize that you only had to do just one... i'm such an idiot!
Are they still going to fly out??

Dummy in L.V... Erin

(p.s. The directions on here were great.. and I had no problem clipping them)

 

[JackE]

They may, but they'll have to flap harder to get it done. I think it would depend on the bird and how determined she is.
Jack

 

[jimgunn]

I clipped both the wings on all my chickens. Usually you only clip the one so that when the chicken tries to fly it is off balance, but I thought that as a chickens only real escape from predators is to flap its wings to make it run faster and maybe go somewhere high, why stop it from doing that. By clipping both wings it can still try and get away predators without falling over, but still stops it from getting enough height to fly over the fence.

 

[RoostersCrow HensDeliver!]

My mother made the same mistake with her hens. They kept escaping the pen for the next 6 months or so until they grew in new feathers. She won't ever forget to only clip one wing from now on.

 

[JackE]

Like I said, depends on the chicken and how high the fence is. As far as predators go, I've found that sometimes, fully feathered wings won't make any difference.
Jack

 

[Buttercup1979]

I have 25 week old pullets and only a four foot fence on one side of our yard. They started flying over so I clipped one wing on each of them. (They are two BO's and two australorps) Now they are still jumping over the fence to the neighbor's yard with a properly clipped wing! I specifically picked out large breeds so they wouldn't be able to fly over this fence. I know they have more growing to do, but should I clip both wings until then? I have a huge yard too, almost an acre for four chickens and they still think the grass is greener on the other side. I hope you guys can help!

 

[Onlyimpressive]

Okk,,, thanks guys!

I have been keeping an eye on them, to see if they can get that high (4 ft fence) and none have escaped since clipping them... so I will keep my fingers crossed ! I just thought, I really did something wrong, but glad to see there are others who clip both the wings to!

 

[galanie]

I used to clip both but now only clip one. Both work. Might add that I clipped some wings a month ago and they still flew the gate. Went back and clipped them a little shorter (but not TOO short, they still have 3-4" of feather) and it stopped that.

 

[DianeS]

I have always cliped both wings of my chickens. It works fine.