these spurs look long to me... should I trim? and how?

[Dar]

all of my roosters have very short nice spurs and they i went and bought this phoenix from the auction. He came with a hen both have leg mites from what I can see (yes they are in quarantine)

but do these look long to you? and how would I trim these? Dog nail cutters? dremel?

 

[redhen]

Hey! I saw a post the other day where they were saying a dremel works good for it.... and something about a hot potato too...

Hoe can you tell he has mites?? I need to check out mine too..but i dont know what to look for really....

 

[The Wolf Queen]

There is a vid on youtube but what I do is get some small pliers and twist the spur from its base off. Then I spray it with purple kote until the rooster needs it again.

 

[Dar]

thanks redhen... the phoenix hen has really raised scales and crusty looking scales.. the rooster is starting to get raised in-between some of the toes.. I have seen pics of leg mites and it looks just like her.. so I assumed and coated with Vaseline just to be on the safe side it wont hurt them if they dont have mites just make their legs silky smooth like a babys bottom..lol

 

[gritsar]

I've tried to find the thread on using a dremmel tool without any luck.
I know that you use the cutting wheel on the dremmel and cut it to 5/8ths of an inch. It will bleed, but shouldn't bleed too much. The dremmel tool moves so fast that it cauterizes as it cuts. Have some cornstarch handy to put on the stub, to stop any bleeding.
Make sure you have a really good grip on the roo, in case the noise startles him.

 

[speckledhen]

We use the dremel, but you have to have someone hold the leg very still so you don't cut the actual leg. If they jerk, that can happen. Never had to use anything since the whirring blade cauterizes it.

 

[Dar]

wait wait wait... hold the phone...

are you trying to tell me i need to cut it OFF right at the the spot where it attaches to the leg?

I thought I just trim like a dogs nail?

 

[speckledhen]

You can use dog clippers, but it will bleed, especially if it's never been trimmed. I cut it off so that maybe 3/4" is left on the spur and it's blunt and we smooth the edges. You still have to hold them because the sound of the dremel makes them nervous. You don't have to stop blood flow with that method. It may start, but just hold the whirring blade against it a sec and it stops immediately. Smells weird while you're doing it, though.

 

[nop169]

As the Wolf Queen mentioned - we twist the spurs off & also spray with some wound kote or furox. When you twist the spur off the remaineing soft underspur will be shorter but still a "spur". It may bleed slightly & you may notice the roo being a little sensative for a day or two until this soft spur hardens up. I have seen roos who people actually "cut" the spur off (similar to using a dog nail cutter) but to me that is too drastic & causes more discomfort. Twisting doesn't seem to cause too much discomfort for the bird. I twist using my hand but some spurs are tough so using pliers to hold the spur may be advantagoues for you. Just rotate the spur in one direction for 360 degrees then pull the spur off. Spray with an antibacterial or antibiotic spray or coat the spur with an ointment. If major bleeding occurs you can dust with blood stop or flour or wood ashes. Good Luck

 

[speckledhen]

My BR rooster completely broke off one spur down to the leg and it will not grow back. Just noticed yesterday that he broke off the outer sheath on the other one, so half is normal and the rest of the length is just showing the inner spur. The inner spur has already hardened to a sharp point, so I'll have to cut that off as well. It's like an icepick!

As a side note, I found that plain old dirt works better than blood stop powder! I've never had any luck with that stuff, nor flour, nor sugar, nor anything that is usually recommended. I've had bleeding combs and wattles that would not stop and had to cauterize them with a soldering iron. The other day, I grabbed some powdery red dirt from next to the house and threw it on my rooster's bleeding wattle and it stopped it cold. Weird, huh?