New mom question

[chickenmom1]

Hey everyone,
My chicks are flying quite a bit, should I clip their wings now or at all? We don't have a cover on the pen when they are full grown like we do now. They are about 6 weeks old.
Thanks, '
J

 

[pgpoultry]

It's up to you, but I never do.

If they are going to be free range, then I would not do so as their ability to fly aids escape from predators.(I don't think mine would bother to escape either)

If you choose to clip the wings, I would suggest that you only do the one wing as this will make the flight uneven. If you do so then clip just the big flight feathers with the wing outstretched and make sure that you do not cut down to the area where there is blood into the feather shaft as the chicken can bleed heavily.

I would be interested to hear what others are doing.

Sandie

 

[apdan]

Mine are all free range and I don't clip the wings!

 

[gryeyes]

How tall is the run fence? If you give them plenty of run space (10 sq ft per bird) then they tend not to want / need to fly out.

But I put bird netting over the run, which solved a problem I never had. (At least the escaping problem..... haven't had aerial predators breech it, either.) None of my chickens have tried to fly out...

I don't clip wings. Especially since now they all free range during the day. I want them to be able to get UP and away if need be. Only a few of them could probably fly up very far, anyway, as most of mine are heavier dual purpose breeds.

 

[chickenmom1]

Thanks so much for all of your posts. I free range my big girls in the afternoon and at night. That way I don't have to round them up. They put themselves to bed and I come in and count heads and lock up. The babies still have time and are not free range yet they are still small, but they have a new open space that my husband put up for me and they love it. It is covered. I will post some picks when I figure out how. Thanks so much. Their run fence is 4 to 41/2 feet tall.
J

 

[chickenmom1]

 

[chickenmom1]

Can anyone tell me what kind of girls these are?

 

[elmo]

Clipping wings at six weeks is not going to solve your problem, or maybe put another way, it would be only a very temporary fix. Feathers grow in very fast at that age.

As I understand your question, you have them in a covered pen now, but you're going to switch them into an uncovered pen when they're adults? Is that correct? If so, I don't see any point in clipping now. If you put them in their adult pen and have problems with chickens flying out, you can consider clipping then. But as others have pointed out, you take away a chicken's primary means of defense from predators by wing clipping.

 

[chickenmom1]

Thanks, I agree. I can't wait to see what they will all look like when they are grown. I don't think I'm going to bother to clip. You have a good point. They are growing like crazy.
J