Hen Spurs

[LilHitzel]

I guess this would fall under behavior? How many of you have hens that have grown spurs? My Easter Egger girl is a year old, very docile, friendly girl and lays green eggs…many of them soft shell. She’s been growing some big spurs compared to the rest of her siblings.

 

[DobieLover]

I've had three hens with spurs.
And three hens that have crowed. None of them are the ones with spurs.

 

[Callender Girl]

One of my Buckeye hens has the biggest spurs I've ever seen on a chicken -- male or female. Fortunately, she is a very sweet girl because those spurs look lethal!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I have several. One or two also crowed at some point, but they're females

 

[rosemarythyme]

I currently have 3 hens (out of 8) with spurs.

This is my hen with the largest spurs when she was younger (and one of the spur sheaths broke off, pink arrow). The spurs are over twice as long now and curl up towards her body, so I have to clip them regularly.

 

[DobieLover]

Olivia's spurs

Fabio's spurs.

He knocked the sheath off the right one last summer:

I wanted to save that but the puppy got hold of it and chewed the crap out of it.

The left one is even longer now. It turned 90 degrees towards the ground from where it is in the picture. It's a good 5 inches long using a soft tape measure.

 

[Farmgirl805]

I know I’m late to the party here but if anyone still wants to reply, did your hens with spurs stop laying? Is it a hormone thing? My polish is just starting to grow the spurs, much bigger than the little nubs used to be, so they’re coming in. That’s fine, I’ll learn how to trim them and all that. But she has stopped laying for quite some time now. We’ve had a rough summer with all manner of creepy critters in the coop and I know they’ve been under stress. Now they’re molting. I just wondered if it might be hormonal. She just turned 2. Thanks for your help.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I know I’m late to the party here but if anyone still wants to reply, did your hens with spurs stop laying? Now they’re molting. I just wondered if it might be hormonal. She just turned 2. Thanks for your help.

Spurs have nothing to do with their laying. At 2 years old AND molting, she's done for the season.

 

[Barbours]

I guess this would fall under behavior? How many of you have hens that have grown spurs? My Easter Egger girl is a year old, very docile, friendly girl and lays green eggs…many of them soft shell. She’s been growing some big spurs compared to the rest of her siblings.

My girl is also a Easter egger and has spurs mabey it's just that breed

 

[Azhtann]

My phoenix hen has spurs as well, and she is still laying well.