Maine

[suzMEchicks]

I'm going around in my head if I should clip wings. Or not. Is it painful to them or hard to do?

 

[lazy gardener]

No more painful to them than getting your own hair or fingernails cut. It does insult their dignity while you're doing it, but they forget about the insult as soon as you let them go. It's super easy. I choose a clean patch of lawn and kneel down on the grass, grab a hen, and hold her between my knees. Then I spread one wing with my left hand, and use the scissors to clip the flight feathers on the wing. You might want to look at a drawing to see which feathers are the flight feathers. It's the first 9 - 11... I'm not sure how many there are, but when you spread the wing, you'll see what I'm talking about. If it's your first time, you might want to have some corn starch or an other clotting agent handy just in case you clip a blood feather (a new one that still has blood in the shaft) or cut too close. After you've done one wing, you'll be an expert with all of the rest! Be conservative with your first cuts, and you'll be fine. You can always take a bit more off if it doesn't do the trick. After the hen tries to fly a couple of times, she resigns herself to staying on the right side of the fence. My girls can still fly up to their loft with clipped wings (you only need to do one wing) and still do the wing flapping/running to gain speed when running for the treat bucket, or running away from something, but they give up on escaping the fence.

Suz: I'd recommend that you try clipping a single wing on your most flighty bird. You'll see how easy it is, and decide that it's easier than chasing escaping girls all the time.

 

[suzMEchicks]

Thanks!

 

[MustardTiger]

Yet again I cant ge tout of work for the show in Sunday. bahhhhh!

What a week...Poor Penny broke a toe and is now in a cast for a few weeks. just in time for my vacation. so long visions of hikes in the woods with the dogs and frolicking in the ocean. sigh.
in other news: we lost one chick from the order it had pasty butt then showed signs of a slipped tendon. I tried to fix it to no avail. The rest are looking healthy and active though. Growing so fast!

I hope it stops raining long enough for me to get some more seeds in the ground today.

 

[Brahmalover4eva]

vemont here we come!

 

[mckenney]

Welcome 100AcreWood! We're neighbors! (I'm in Dover Foxcroft).
If I hear of anyone who has Guineas, I'll let you know.

I have Barred rocks, Light Brahma, Marans, Buff Orpingtons, Auracana. MANY chickens will do well here in Maine. I don't heat my coop, and none have had frost bite. We do use a heated dog water bowl for the winter.

yankeehill,
Do you plan on going to the poultry show in Windsor on Sunday?? I'd like to take a black copper maran cockerel or rooster off your hands if you have one.

 

[BirdsOfAnarchy]

@yankeehill where are you located? I want more light brahmas!! excellent layers and they are so beautiful. I love to watch their big fluffy butts when they run.

 

[lazy gardener]

Birds of Anarchy: Your rooster named Rachel reminds me of the male cat that I named Sally when I was a kid. He was a total sissy around tom cats, and was always getting lost out in the back 80, but, boy could that boy hunt! He was always dragging home rabbits, and once took down a fox. He considered it his job to bring home the bacon! Rabbits, squirrels, mice, snakes, frogs, birds... he was always showing up at the door step or tent flap with a treat for me!

 

[CoopChick719]

Upta Camp!! A little nervous put the meaties in big coop in their own cage. Left explicit feeding instructions for DS. DD told me she wasn't feeding them! She has to work all weekend. My layers are still in the brooder in the garage but are very lonely & have no meaties to snuggle with the lame meatie has been standing more often. I'm going to move him in with the layers after the weekend to see if it helps.
Enjoy the long weekend! And remember our military (active duty & veteran) who help to keep this country free!!

 

[BirdsOfAnarchy]

@lazy gardener your old time cat sounds awesome

@CoopChick719 whats ds dd and those other chicken related acronyms I see frequently used here?