Trimming feet

[Bryce Thomas]

Can I trim my silkie chickens feet feathers? Only the feathers that make contact with the ground, not above the spurs

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Why?

 

[aart]

Can I trim my silkie chickens feet feathers? Only the feathers that make contact with the ground, not above the spurs

Yep....I think so.
I plan on dong this with my light brahmas...after they are done with all their juvenile molts. Don't want to cut a blood feather.

 

[Bryce Thomas]

Why?

So they dont get mud feet, they love walking in their waterer

 

[JacinLarkwell]

So they dont get mud feet, they love walking in their waterer

Then raise the waterer up or get one they can't walk in. They will make the water dirty too and they shouldn't be drinking that

 

[3KillerBs]

So they dont get mud feet, they love walking in their waterer

Better to solve your mud problem because no chicken does well with wet/muddy feet, feathered or not.

What kind of waterer are you using?

The simplest solution would be to put it up on bricks or blocks, raising it to the level of the chickens' backs.

Alternately, you could switch to a nipple waterer -- the horizontal style are less likely to leak. I've made a bunch of them in different sizes with the nipples from Rent-A-Coop and assorted food-grade containers I brought home from the grocery store deli where I work. 5-gallon buckets are the most popular, but I can't carry 5 gallons of water so mine are smaller.

Another option, popular with people who have ducks, is to set your waterer up on a wire platform with a drainage pit under it, again bringing it to the level of the birds' backs.