Time to Clip Wings!!1

[happybooker1]

So after losing 2 hens last week (see thread https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/864461/so-mad-at-myself) I got 2 Lavender Ameraucanas today (+ 2 day-old babies which are most likely male -- with my chicken luck). Getting ready to take a shower, I heard a ruckus outside my bathroom window. I dashed through the house in all my birthday-suit glory to find one of the Ameraucanas had ALREADY flown over the dog fence and the dogs were trying to kill it.

Luckily my son was home because my neighbor can see straight into my backyard and it was still daylight so son went to rescue the hen and neighbor wasn't treated to the sight of a heavyset older women tearing naked through her backyard trying to save a chicken.

Anyway, I'm now waiting for twilight so we can catch the new Lav's easily and CLIP their wings!

 

[Coralietg]

Definitely time to clip! Make sure to look at lots of guides, we did over 25 chickens with no problem a few months a go.

 

[happybooker1]

Already done! The Lav's must be smart (for chickens anyway) since they found the coop themselves as soon as it started to get dark. The Silkies when I got them I had to go out there the first 2 nights & put them in the coop.

We just plucked the Lav's off the roosts, Son held them & I cut the feathers. Easy peasy, although I did get a baleful eye......

 

[phinux]

I ended up adding a tarp over the top of my coop's run to keep the girls from getting out. My dog so far just likes chasing and nipping at them, but after coming home from church and finding her carrying an indignant hen around by her butt-feathers it was time to lock-down the coop and work on hard-core doggie training. My Easter-Egger in particular can find any chink in the chicken run armor and break free.