trimming wings

[maryboland]

My 20 week-old Araucanas and barred rocks are flying out of their yard. ((The 12 of them have a 64 sq ft house, totally enclosed run of same size and 1/5 acre yard with 4 ft fence around). I let them out in the large yard for the afternoon and where the gate is, there are posts they can fly up to and then fly out, which puts them on line to get in my garden. They have started flying out this route and have not ventured into the garden yet, but obviously I need to put a stop to this. I'm going to put some makeshift fencing just where they fly out to raise the height to 7 or 8 ft and hope that stops it. If not, I may have to clip their wings.

I hate to clip their wings. Not only does the idea make me nervous, but also I like that they can fly because I figure if something like a raccoon or whatnot did get after them during the day they could fly up to the top of their run, house or nearby trees. But if I do end up having to clip them, will they grow back and how soon?

 

[Ridgerunner]

The Learning Center has a good article on wing clipping.

Learning Center Wing Clipping
https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-wingclipping.html

If you clip the wings, they will grow back when they molt.

Good luck! I'm trying to figure out a good way to keep mine out of my strawberries right now without getting too elaborate. They love scratching in the mulch.

 

[Channel23]

Wing clipping is very simple, and effective, it wont effect your chooks at all we do it to alll of ours (now they climb our fence). Give it a try im sure you'll be happy with the results, and as maryboland said they do grow back when they molt, but its just something you do on a regular basis.