PROPER WING CLIPPING TO AID IN CONTAINMENT WITH PERIMETER FENCING

[TheGoldenGirlz]

IF wing clipping is done right, but right does not involve both wings, or clipping so heavy (as in the bird I was gifted), that they have only hairy arms.



My dogs, just like my chickens are right under my feet. Of course the dogs do hunt, and they do get out of my site, I have a big place so no harm (we took out a raccoon this morning). The chickens would not be safe where the dogs and I go. Though there is a cockerel that follows us, and clipping his wing will not keep him in (nor would cutting them off), he is an escape artist. This will work out in a few weeks,,,,
Most of my birds do not fly, (some are to old/heavy to fly) except on and off the roost, more of a jump. Very few have jumped the fence, when they do I watch what they are after.
Here a chicken flying outside of their area is very bad and can lead to their death. This, for me, makes it wrong for them to fly 20-30 feet in the air. Now when these girls molt, these feathers will be shed and grow back, most likely I will not need to clip their wing, ever again. They will have effectively been trained not to fly,even if that is they just weight more..

Alright, why is clipping both wings bad? If it’s just feathers what is the problem, it’s not like declawing a cat, right?

 

[RWise]

Alright, why is clipping both wings bad? If it’s just feathers what is the problem, it’s not like declawing a cat, right?

The purpose of clipping your chickens wing is to set it off balance, which stops flight. Clipping both negates this and they are again balanced. They may have less lift and will flap their wings harder. They do not understand being off balance and cannot correct for it, they cant flap this wing once and that wing twice.
Yes it is "just feathers" and they will grow back when they molt, but why put your birds through that?

 

[centrarchid]

The purpose of clipping your chickens wing is to set it off balance, which stops flight. Clipping both negates this and they are again balanced. They may have less lift and will flap their wings harder. They do not understand being off balance and cannot correct for it, they cant flap this wing once and that wing twice.
Yes it is "just feathers" and they will grow back when they molt, but why put your birds through that?

Explain the statement "Results of cutting only primaries failed to prevent any birds from reaching pen when set at both 36" and 48". I could still ID during jump / flight up whether a given bird was not clipped, unilaterally clipped or bilaterally clipped." in my first post of this thread in light of your off -balance assertion above. My observations do not agree with your assertion that a bird with one clipped wing cannot adjust, within limits.



Secondly, you state in post #41 "Now when these girls molt, these feathers will be shed and grow back, most likely I will not need to clip their wing, ever again. They will have effectively been trained not to fly,even if that is they just weight more..". My past experience clipping wings of chickens and domestic rock doves (pigeons) does not agree with this. As the birds molt back into a full and balanced feathering, the capacity and inclination for flight of my birds has been restored. I am holding back one of the clipped birds watching its feathers grow back in. Likely in less than 30 days it will again be able to fly and serve as evidence to contrary to you your statement above.


I have a game hen with only one wing. She can do things the clipped birds cannot. Are you ready to explain what is going on with that?

 

[Shadrach]

An interesting and well presented study. It was obviously a lot of work. Thanks.
I’m against wing clipping in principle but I understand why people do it and acknowledge that it can save many chicken lives.
I did consider it a few years ago when three of the tribes here had pullets and cockerels and their parents, as good parents should, showed them how to roost in the trees.
If I had clipped their wings it would have been for my convenience; (getting chickens out of trees can be a headache if you’re not used to it.) but it wouldn’t have made the slightest difference on the positive side to their overall safety, and may have handicapped their ability to escape some predators.
To improve the safety of the chickens here one would have to build a fully enclosed run, given their ‘natural’ range say half an acre per tribe, anything smaller and they aren’t really free range anymore. They may well be quite content with a lot less space, but I wouldn’t be.
It’s a difficult question to put to a chicken; captive but live longer, free and take your chances like the rest of us. I have to decide for them and my preference is free every time, but if I saw my family being picked off by a hawk I might choose differently.
I learnt how to get them out of the trees. It took over a year. I call them at dusk for their supper now and they come down to eat and go into their coops.
I’m a lot happier with this than I would be clipping their wings.

 

[centrarchid]

I seldom clip. Clipping her for purpose of dealing with urban myths, old spouse tails, and malarkey.

 

[mnreeder]

Although I can't speak to the scientific discussion here, I can share some real-world results from my first year of chickening. Our coop/run has fences on 3 sides that are about 8 feet and 1 side at 6 feet. We have 3 EE and 4 buffs. At about 12 weeks, one of the EE started to escape. I watched as she would jump/fly to the top of the gate, go explore, and then return. They have plenty of food, water, space, and a nice coop. But I agree that curiosity and adventure is a big motivation for chickens. We do let them out to explore and forage, about once per day. I tried to cover the run but the netting was cumbersome and this one EE had gotten stuck in the netting. With one EE as a bad influence, we eventually had all 3 EE and 1 buff that could escape. Ultimately, we decided to clip 1 wing on each chicken. We just clipped the primary flight feathers and have never had another bird escape. I have watched as the biggest perpetrator has jumped/tried to fly, but she just can't get high enough any more. I chose to clip 1 wing because common sense and understanding of flight/physics made the most sense to me.

We clipped the wings about 2 months ago and have had great success with it.
Mike

 

[centrarchid]

Common sense time for sure. Clipping to stop excursions over 8 foot fence need be much less than for smaller fence. Common sense does not require rejection of science.

 

[Americana24]

Resurrecting this thread but I have some EE young hens and they jump
Over my 5’ fence at will. My NHR don’t do it. I tried clipping just one wing and didn’t work so I clipped both wings on the one left in my yard today and I’ll report my results

 

[centrarchid]

I'll stand behind results and with two lings clipped. I could keep any flying bird in that is not more than three feet tall.

 

[Coffetym]

Resurrecting this thread but I have some EE young hens and they jump
Over my 5’ fence at will. My NHR don’t do it. I tried clipping just one wing and didn’t work so I clipped both wings on the one left in my yard today and I’ll report my results

Americana, just an idea for you to consider. If there is not a solid surface on the top, such as a board on the top of a fence , a chicken will almost never try going over. If you’ll watch, almost every chicken will observe, then fly up & land on a solid surface. They will then decide their next objective from their new vantage point. I have a friend that has a low gate into the chicken yard but they have hardware cloth extended about 12” above the gate frame. Their chickens never fly over!