First Show Tomorrow....Spur Help Needed

[Ang]

My son is showing chickens for the first time tomorrow at the local FFA fair. We bathed everyone with no complications. That part actually went much better than I thought! He is showing an older Australorp rooster that has some really long spurs. I looked to see how to remove or shorten them. It seems that twisting them off is the easiest and less painful way to do this. I could not for the life of me get his spurs off in this manner! I tried using pliers and my bare hands. He pulled his foot away like it was painful. What am I doing wrong?

 

[Qi Chicken]

Frankly I have absolutely no idea, but just wanted to give you a vote for mom of the year!

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

Make sure you hold his leg FIRM around the spur so there is no pressure on his leg while twisting.

 

[Ang]

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Thanks....what'd I do? LOL!

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I'll try that in the morning. Thanks!

 

[Chris09]

I know that your son is showing a Australorp but if your son ever show Old English or Sumatras do not remove the spurs it will be a DQ.

Chris

 

[Smoky73]

I would NOT do that before a show. Once you get the hard outer shell off, it will leave a bleeding inner soft spur that will take a few days to dry up and fall off. Just trim the spur the best you can with clippers of some kind. I usually use dog nail clippers or hoof trimmers if really large. I would only cut off about a 1/2 inch at a time so that the quick receeds.

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

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?? What falls off? I've done it this way several times & have never had it bleed. The under-spur is already semi-hardened when the outside spur is removed. The worst case of bleeding I've ever seen came from clipping the spurs on one of my roos.

 

[Smoky73]

The last time I did it with the twisting method and oil, the inner spur is soft and bleeds. Once it stops then I reintroduced the bird to the pen but it took several days for that soft spur to fall off. I still would not do it before a show. The birds do not to be under any extra stress prior to showing , they will already be stressed enough surrounded by other birds and strange people walking by them all day.