keeping my chicken from jumping the fence

[jentralala]

I had to clip both the wings on my leghorn, because she was determined to escape the backyard, which could easily land her in the neighbors yard with their massive dogs, plus that's one of the conditions to my neighborhood being allowed to keep hens (they must be contained). I felt bad doing it, but it was the only thing that stopped her.

 

[camilla and dot]

Hi, I'm a first time chicken owner. We managed to clip the wings on each our bantam leghorns this evening which was such a relief...but SO hard! We've had them in the coop for the first week but we knew we should clip them before letting them free range as we are in an urban setting. My husband tried to catch one in the morning while cramped in the coop but Myrtle flew straight out, up and onto the fence much to our dismay. Our Australorp, Camilla - who seems to be the leader/mother of the trio - rushed the other bantam Barbara into the nesting area and just kept calling out for Myrtle. We kept our distance and thankfully Myrts made her way back to the coop after an anxious 20 minutes. We gave up until evening. My husband went back into the coop and braved a lot of flapping and thankfully he was able to get a hold of the bantams, we covered their heads with a tea towel to calm them while I did the clipping. Given all the effort to catch them, we clipped the primaries on both wings and a little off the secondaries for good measure and let them enjoy the garden for the first time! They are six month old ladies and have been laying up a storm, so fingers crossed they will settle in more and be easier to handle - or at least we'll be more confident!

L-R Camilla, Myrtle and Barbara (pre-clip!)