How early do you clip chick wings?

[elmo]

Quote:
If you clip a blood feather, pulling it out would not help. You stop the bleeding by applying some cornstarch or even flour to the bleeding tip until it coagulates.

 

[rstampa]

I'm reading that a few who post say they are worried about making their chickens bleed. Well first of all you don't have to clip that much off. If you know which are the flight feathers, that's a good start. If you like, you can start at the largest flight feather and cut a line to the smallest feather. Going in the direction of the feathers. This will be between 1" to 1/2 in down to the smallest feathers. Or if its easier start at the smallest to the largest. Which ever is easiest for you.
There are approximately 10 feathers if I remember right. Do not cut the large feathers from the front of the wing to the back. This will make them look less attractive and serves no purpose.
I would recommend clipping both wings. In my 40+ years of raising all types of birds from Macaws to Finches and now chickens. This is the best way to keep the bird grounded.
By clipping only one wing the will fly in circles and after a time they will compensate for the clipped wing and will learn to fly anyway.

 

[TaylorC]

We have a six foot fence with a couple of hounds on one side and a busy street behind. I don't look forward to it,l but we'll be clipping. We agreed that doing just one seemed a bit rude.

 

[highcountrychickens]

I'd be very cautious about this - As feathers are developing the shafts are full of blood - in Falconry, we say birds aren't ready to fledge until they are 'hard penned' meaning, the feathers no longer have blood in them.

You can inadvertently injure your birds very easily -

I'd recommend putting them in a brooder with higher walls, or cover the top with mesh or hardware cloth to keep them from popping out. As for flying - I dunno, I have never had a problem with my birds - they only fly up to their roosts at night.

 

[Jen71]

Wow - this topic is so ambiguous. I guess its just because we all have different situations, needs, and neighbors.
My chicks are 5 weeks old and they love to fly!
I have no doubt that once they're bigger and living outside, they will be on the top of my neighbor's fence in no time. We have 5 foot fences all around our yard and both neighbors have dogs.

These are my options as I see them:
- Build new fences
- Hope my chickens don't try to fly over
- Keep them in an enclosed run
- Clip their wings

Any thoughts?

 

[YolandaT]

I think I will need to clip some wings pretty soon here, my neighbors on both sides have dogs, even though my yard is decent sized I'd hate to think of them landing on either side of the 6ft fence! I am glad to hear that you went ahead and tried it and it was okay, I am very nervous as well! If you get blood I read your chickens can bleed to death in minutes!

How can you be sure you are not cutting down too far??

 

[Dave1979m]

There are plenty of how to videos on youtube for this. I clipped wings when they were 15 weeks or so. I have had them over a year now and they haven't even looked like trying to get out. If they are spoilt for plenty of things to eat and scratch then they probably wont wander. A bit like marriage I guess.

 

[Shells]

Hi, Iv'e always waited until they on the perch at night and we (the kids and I) have a great adventure in the dark with our head lamps to go clip the hens wings! They are very docile then. I learnt this after my first attempt with hens when my husband couldn't speak for laughing at me trying to catch a bunch of wise old hens I had picked up as my first flock.

 

[jak2002003]

I think to clip or not all depends on your particular situation. Concerning the OP, I would advise clipping the birds wings once they are put outdoors to stop them going over the fence. However, they are more clever than you think (the chickens) and they will use stuff like branches, pots and garden chairs to hop on until they get over the fence. So make sure there is nothing for them to climb up on.

If they climb over the fence and jump into the neighbors garden then they will not be able to fly back and a dog might get them.

I used to clip my Japanese Bantams wings because they are very good at flying. But I found that sometimes one would get out of the garden somehow and a had a few killed by a dog that got into my garden and the poor chickens could not fly away from it.

Now I never clip the wings. They don't wander far away. If a dog tries to get them they are very alert and will fly to a high place. I have not lost a single chicken now they can all fly and take care of themselves.

 

[Weezy Laken]

I clipped mine as soon as they could fly high enough to get over my 4 foot fence around my yard. that was mid summer. Now I have one that got over my neighbors 8 foot privacy fence. had to go get her the other day. I checked their wings and they are still clipped. thinking I need to cut farther down the wing. I have barred Rocks. number 6 is always the one to do weird stuff. I think she got up on a saw horse we have in the yard for them to perch on above the snow. I think it was to close to the fence. was about 4 foot away from fence. I think she got up on it then went over. The neighbors have their own chickens. their dog stayed with her to keep her safe until he could get them to notice the extra bird. lol like I said I checked her out and wing still clipped. She did come home with her comb bloodied a tad bit but she doesn't seem to mind. I didn't see any tracks in the snow from her going over to the fence and she couldn't have gotten under it.