Does anyone have experience trimming spurs on a rooster? I'm not sure what else we could do, but I'm a little afraid of tackling this job (I don't even trim my dog's nails... she freaks out over it so we take her to get them done).
We've lost two hens the last 3 weeks to apparent spurring. I didn't recognize what it was on the first hen because I didn't have the opportunity to look her over much when I found her - found her in the run when I went to throw food in their run on my way out the door, she already had maggots on her underside when I picked her up but that was the extent of what I saw. I buried her quickly because the kids were waiting in the car. The second hen I found in the coop when we got back from vacation, there were a few escapee chickens that had to be returned to the coop and I saw her laying on the floor of the coop. I took her into the garage to look her over and found a big gash down her side. I did my best to treat the wound, but it was down to the bone on her leg. She hung on for 2 whole days, but passed this morning.
So, Romeo is 3 years old and has never hurt any of his girls in all that time. Looking him over today, I can see that one of his spurs is really long, the same side that both girls were injured on. The other one doesn't look nearly as long. Is it weird that they are different lengths? How do I know how far down I can clip without hurting him? My understanding is that you just clip them with a dog toenail clipper, is there anything else I need to know? I'd love to hear some experience about this...
We do it regularly, and for the reason you are wanting to do it...to reduce hen injuries...
2 methods have worked for us, dog toenail clippers and a Dremel tool with cut off wheel.
When first doing it I suggest having a helper and plan on only doing a slight shortening, some spurs you can see a color change where the 'quick' is, but most you can't so better off doing it in stages.
Have a small cup with either flour or some type of 'blood stop' such as stipick powder handy.
Cut off about a quarter inch of spur and check for bleeding, apply flour or powder if bleeding present. If no bleeding and spurs seem excessively long you can take more off or if you can see the quick you can take it back to within about 1/8 inch of the quick.
If you can't tell where the quick is I would do the first 1/4 to 1/2 inch and then wait a week to do any more. As you get used to trimming them you will have a better idea on how much you can take at a time.
If they bleed don't worry, just apply the powder of choice and hold a finger tightly over the tip of it for a minute, the bleeding will stop. Clean up any visible blood from the foot to prevent other birds from messing with it.
If you have a dremel tool just practice by cutting a pencil or dense stick of similar size, I like using the dremel because I can actually round off the end of the spur after shortening it.
I honestly think the most complicated part of the process is getting a good hold on the bird, I usually have DH hold the bird like a football in the crook of his arm, pinned against his side with the birds head towards his back and slightly downwards. This allows DH to pin the free foot against his side with his forearm while holding the upper leg of the foot being worked on with his hand. Once you get a comfortable work position figured out the rest is pretty straightforward.