Questions on my Rooster and his spurs

[MelodyC]

Do I need to remove his spurs occasionally as maintenance? Someone asked how long his spurs were, and they are as long as the toe (?) in front of it. He doesn't seem to be hurting the hens at all. I would prefer he has some defense to protect the girls from predators if it's not hurting him to just let him have them.

 

[chicken singer]

You shouldn't need to remove the spurs. If you are really concerned I suppose you could file them down.

 

[MelodyC]

Ok. Thank you!!!

 

[chicken singer]

You should also do some research before filing them. There are some "how to" sights out there that show safe and pain free removal for the roo.

 

[cafarmgirl]

There are various ways you can do this if you decide to. Some people just go ahead and cut them off close to the base, seems bloody and painful to me. Other's use a boiled hot potato, stick it onto the spur then a quick twist and the spur comes off. When I had my roo we just occasionally filed them down with a dremel so it was a bit shorter and rounded. This was easy to do and painless for him. He otherwise had very long, sharp spurs and I did have a couple of hens injured because of it. As far as spurs as a defense against predators... if he gets that close to a predator he's more then likely going to become dinner before he ever gets a chance to use his spurs. A rooster is more about giving warning so the hens can get into hiding then about actually fighting off a hungry predator.

 

[MelodyC]

Hubby actually saw him mount one of the girls and he was very gentle he said. So if it's not something that "has" to be done, I think I'll leave them as self defense and protecting the girls from hawks.

Thank you all for your input!