Official BYC Poll: Do You Clip Your Chickens' Wings?

[oellian]

I've been keeping chickens for fifteen years, and never needed to clip any wings. My lowest outer fence is 5' tall, and for years, I kept the chickens separate from the garden with a moveable 3' roll of welded wire fencing. Then, last year, my new birds decided that 3' wasn't an impediment that they could respect. So I got a roll of 4'. They laughed. So I raised it to 5', and they said "OK, OK, we get it..." Then I added two new buff Orp pullets who had been raised in a flock of 100 in a hoop house. They weren't accustomed to close human contact, and one of them disappeared the day they arrived. Fortunately, we found her nearby, but were puzzled by how she could have gotten out. Then, the next day, she was gone again. We again checked the perimeter, and found it fine. So we concluded that she was flying over then fence, and clipped one wing. Problem solved. She's calmed down a bunch, and I don't expect to have to do it again after she moults. I'm also going to raise my outer fence to 6', just to be sure. We have a very healthy fox population in these parts...

 

[oellian]

No, we don't. And why would we, if the fence is low enough for the hens to fly out, then think about all predators that can come in.

It is our responsibility to keep our animals safe, so no, no wing clippings, since there are no need for it. Keeping safe in our opinion is to keep the birds in a run that is covered and has a strong fence with small enough masks. We have had free ranging chickens in the past and never more...
If we need to catch the birds for inspection, treatment etc, we do it at night, when they all are propped up on the roost, and just pluck them down one by one. So much more calm and less stressful for the birds.

A tall fence will keep out everything but raccoons and birds of prey around here. I would also counter that we also have a responsibility to allow our birds to express their "inner chicken-ness", as someone put it. Joel Salatin? That means providing them with access to pasture where they can scratch, scavenge, sun, dust bathe, or whatever they dern well feel like. Chickens can be pretty destructive, and if permanently penned in a small area, it'll soon be a desert. I always turn mine out when I'm around and can keep an eye on them. At night I coop them up an an impenetrable coop. So I personally would argue that while "battery chickens" at laying operations are nominally safe from predators, that's a life I wouldn't wish on any chicken.

 

[preciouspanda]

Wing clipping is the most common method of controlling the flight of backyard chickens. For example, some may fly over your fence or out of their uncovered run, exposing them to all sorts of dangers. Clipping the wings just means cutting a little bit off the first few feathers on the wing, making it harder for them to fly. Some like to just clip one wing so that they fly sideways as this imbalances the bird, making it difficult for her/him to fly.

Do you clip your chickens' wings? Place your vote above & feel free to elaborate in the comments section.

View attachment 2508536

Further reading:
How To Clip Trim The Wings Of Your Chicken To Prevent Flight

(Check out more Official BYC Polls HERE!)

Since I started my flock 2017 use to let all free range till the back yard was nothing more than desert more dirt than grass and in order to make yard look good again had to start keeping them in pens 11 chicken coops total and they all have very own flock in each one had to clip wings cuz keep escaping and all the $$$ spent to put grass down could let them take grass out again so I go around and pull som grass and I give some to every coop right now put sod down in our rabbit houses pens instead keeping it dirt floor so even when rain they can come out and run around in their playpen and not be cooped up in a rabbit house with not roomy to run in pic of one of my chicken coop and rabbit setup and the last chicken coop we built for my geese so they can sit on eggs. Two houses to keep our buck and doe separated but together until ready for more kits

 

[Leahsandora11]

I never clip their wings, it's probably the best way to escape predators. My dog has gotten out a few times and the only reason some of them got away is because they were able to fly away from her.

 

[artbykarenehaley]

Yes, I clip my birds' wings because of three reasons. Main reason: I have dogs for neighbors. I have a flock of five, with one who has already led the others over the fence and into the most aggressive dog's yard, who thankfully was shut inside the house at the time.
Second: Next door has a flock as well, and and we want to keep our birds separate for biosecurity reasons. She keeps a buffer zone fenced off so our birds don't come in contact through the fence and I keep mine clipped since they have the higher ground and could easily fly over if they tried.

Third: we have a nice big back porch for our kids to play on. It's enclosed with railing, gated and covered. So as much as I love my birds, I really don't want them to come up and poop where my kids play barefoot and run in and out of the house. Our birds love to follow the kids around because the kids always give them treats, so they were in the habit of jumping over the railing and onto the porch.

 

[orloffer]

I clip my quails' wings occasionally, but not the chickens' wings. Their coop/hutch is around 3 feet (I think) off the ground, and I like having them able to fly up there themselves because we have no ramp. Also, our backyard fence is quite tall (I believe it is 8 feet)...though there was actually one incident a while back where Ameraucana the EE almost went over the fence. If you care to know what happened, here is the story: Ameraucana was spooked by a moving wheelbarrow or something and, in her terror, flew up and found herself on the fence. She stood there, panting, with her wings held away from her body, while we pleaded with her to please jump down on the right side of the fence. We even got a few live superworms to try to bribe her down, but she was too frightened to do any more jumping. Finally we got a chair, stepped up onto it, and pushed her off the fence back into the yard.

 

[ellen60]

Yes, I have clipped a wing or two, but only to keep them from flying over my fence into the neighbors yard. They have huge dogs. I have only had 1 Speckled Sussex fly over the chicken yard fence. I have a smallish backyard, and it is surrounded by privacy fence. The chicken yard is inside that and has it's own fence. My own dogs get the yard in between the privacy fence and the chicken fence, and I don't like the chickens to go out where my dogs are because I don't want chicken poo in between the dogs toes and have them tracking it into the house. Biosecurity. I like heavy bodied birds like cochins because they do not fly up.

 

[FactoryReject]

I only clip the wing of ones that escape (but they dig under the fence!!)

 

[Ribh]

No. I want them to have the best chance possible of escaping predators. Our worst are dogs & most of my girls are good fliers. If they can get up high all the better. They very rarely venture outside their own yard & my neighbours are good about alerting me if they spot them.

 

[Mutchi]

I picked other cus I only clipped one chicken ever and that was my roo he could fly to the neighbors house!