Hello....and one quick question

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CHICKENTIKKA82

CHICKENTIKKA82

In the Brooder
Oct 16, 2015
26
0
22
Congleton, Cheshire, United Kingdom
Hi everyone. My name is Adam and I'm from Cheshire in the UK.

I recently bought 3 chickens to free range in my garden. We have a lovely coop for them and an enclosed run but they like to spend most of the day following me around the garden, eating bugs or (like they are now) watching me through the window.

One of my chickens is a bit of a jumper / flyer and she can clear a 5ft fence no problem. We have 6ft fences around the garden but I want to clip the primary feathers.

I'm cool about doing this and have watched and read everything out there including the tips on this great site. My question is : After inspection all my chickens (Suffolk Blue, White and ???? Black/brown) all have dark feather shafts almost black. This is the primary feathers i'm talking about, right to the tip.

I was a little concerned about this as all the videos and photographs I have seen show very clear white feather shafts being cut.

Just don't want to injure anyone. Its really confused me. The chickens are young but not little chicks they are pretty darn big, bigger than a cat!.

Any info would be fantastic.

Thanks and thanks for having me.
 
I've never done it or seen it done ( too squeamish) but, if you do it you are removing their main escape route from predators - flying!. Could you fashion a run for them with a covered top so they can't fly out? It would also keep some climbing predators out and raptors. Fox can jump high, I've seen them out here, also good diggers and very persistent. BTW Welcome to Backyard chickens, very glad you joined us.
 
You could also put a few feet of chicken wire loosely (as in, no tight) on the top of your fence but have it facing into your garden at an angle. Maybe 30 degrees from vertical - it will discourage jumping over as it does not provide a stable perch and would take a pretty good flying attempt as they would need to start from a few metres from the fence. Having said that, they are ingenious when the mood takes them!

Good luck
CT
 
Feather shaft color depends on breed. Don't cut last two feathers at the tip as these have additional blood vessels. A good place if you have questions is a pet shop as they clip feathers for various bird species.
 
Hi Adam,
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I don't have any experience clipping wings but a cover over the run does seem like a good way to go as that would prevent them from flying over the fence and keep predators out.

Good luck to you, thanks for joining us!
 
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I can't really answer your question. My chickens free-range and I prefer they have the ability to fly in case they need to get away from a predator. So, I just popped on to say hello.
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Thanks for the information and thanks for the nice welcomes. I've decided to let my 3 chickens free range in the back garden. I have let them free range yesterday and today with access to their safe run and coop, food and water etc. They are super happy and zero attempts to leave the garden. They just seem too happy to even be interested in jumping anymore.

There's a solid pecking order in place and our biggest (but youngest) has decided to be the full time enforcer scaring off anything (mainly birds) that even try to enter the garden.

They appear to be happy with the limited ability to fly and use it to to swoop across the garden and rejoin the flock if they get left behind.

My main worry was the neighbours domestic cat. I haven't seen it much since we got the chickens. Just a quick peep through the fence and thats all. if the cat issue becomes an deadly problem I will build a bigger run (much bigger). But for now I have no intention of cutting wings.

Thanks for helping me come to this conclusion.
 
There are feral cats where i live and my chickens chase them out of the garden, so hopefully they will not be a problem.

Good luck
 

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