Has anyone ever clipped a chickens wings to keep it from flying?

[Pandemic pandemonia]

That picture helps a lot. One person said they only cut about six of them. I am going to have to look at how the bird will look later too really. Cutting six might leave a few for appearance sake I guess. I am kind of torn on this because of predators too. It's like either keep him in his covered cage, clip the wings or do it and perhaps put him at risk of predator attack more too. Kind of between a rock and a hard place here.

Thank you for the directions!

 

[SBFChickenGirl]

That picture helps a lot. One person said they only cut about six of them. I am going to have to look at how the bird will look later too really. Cutting six might leave a few for appearance sake I guess. I am kind of torn on this because of predators too. It's like either keep him in his covered cage, clip the wings or do it and perhaps put him at risk of predator attack more too. Kind of between a rock and a hard place here.

If you only cut the primaries you won't be able to see that the feathers are clipped at all when the wings are folded.
Sometimes it is for the best...
I've given up on clipping my bantam boys' wings... they fly on top of my 9 ft coop and I can't stop them.

 

[Jmiller89]

Thank you. So you don't cut the first row of feathers at all? Just the second row on one wing? I have a lot to learn clearly. Thank you so much for the help.

Your basically cutting the longest feathers. You don’t want to cut too far down or too close to the wing. Then you could accidentally cut the bird or hit a blood feather (one that is growing in).

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Hi, we have found that we only have to trim our birds' feathers once, when they are young and just discovering that they are capable of flight. We have large-fowl birds, so that may make a difference. By the time their primaries grow out again, they are about full grown, have put on considerable weight and have mostly forgotten they had that ability. Not sure this will work the same with Bantams. Good luck!

 

[Pandemic pandemonia]

Your basically cutting the longest feathers. You don’t want to cut too far down or too close to the wing. Then you could accidentally cut the bird or hit a blood feather (one that is growing in).

A Blood feather sounds scary. Ok ..thanks for the explanation of that term too. Wow I have sooo much to learn.

 

[Pandemic pandemonia]

Hi, we have found that we only have to trim our birds' feathers once, when they are young and just discovering that they are capable of flight. We have large-fowl birds, so that may make a difference. By the time their primaries grow out again, they are about full grown, have put on considerable weight and have mostly forgotten they had that ability. Not sure this will work the same with Bantams. Good luck!

Thank you very much I do have some Jersey Giants that I don't think will fly very high. This little guy is a lot lighter and friskier.

 

[SBFChickenGirl]

Thank you very much I do have some Jersey Giants that I don't think will fly very high. This little guy is a lot lighter and friskier.

Once your JG are full grown they won't be going higher than a few feet, I can assure you of that.

 

[Abriana]

Thank you I wonder how far I should cut though like an inch maybe?

I cut about 2/3 of the way up, but always start with less than you think (same with toenail trimming!) because honestly it’s very hard to un-trim!

 

[Pghelp]

The blood feathers are something to worry about mostly in young birds where the feathers are still developing. We used to cut about 2-3 inches off those big flight feathers on one wing. Thankful for my roofed enclosed run now so we don't have to worry about clipping any more! The breeds we have now love to fly!