I have three roosters in my flock and many of the hens are losing the feathers on their backs and tails. I suspect it has to do with the roosters' leg-spurs. What is the best way to remove these spurs?
Check this video out from youtube . I saw it and do my roosters this way. Lots easier than trying to cut them.
It may or may not be from the spurs. I have a few slick back chickens in the crew but most of the girls are well feathered. It is my opinion that it is due more to the girls protestations to being surfed upon than to the spurs.
Keith M, Thanks so much for your video suggestion!!! And thanks so much to the guy who did the demo!!! A few years ago, I gave one of my fine roos to a 'friend'. She and her husband decided to 'de-spur' him, cause they thought he was hurting their hens.........loss of feathers on hen's backs. She told me how she helped hold the roo down while her husband cut off the spurs............BLOOD WENT EVERYWHERE!!! Her discription reminded me of de-horning a cow/steer.........but without cauterizing. Sounded mighty cruel to me and made me angry!!! It made me want to hold her down and cut 'too short/quick' her fingernails. Needless to say, I've never given them another roo. Thank you again for passing along this humane info!!! "You're a good man Charlie Brown. " Chris
Keith-m71 -- Thanks for sharing the video-link. I looked at all 3 Spur-removal videos (1 - cutting & 2 twisting-off). Based on an article in BYC a few months back, I did two of my roosters using pliers and twisting the horny outer cover off. But I wasn't sure if I was supposed to also cut off the soft, inner "core". (I noticed that neither the "twist-off" techniques did that.) I'll do the third rooster now with more confidence!
I'll assume that none of you posting in this thread freerange? If it wasn't for my rooster's spurs, we would have lost all our chickens. Our rooster has "hooked" dogs and hawks on multiple occasions. It would be like me going camping out in the woods in bear and cat country without a firearm and expecting the wildlife to respect "pacifism".
