Well, it must be that time of year when the girls decide to go find a place to nest. Today I caught almost all of my girls roaming outside the fence, in bushes. I have plenty of fallen leaves, what more could they want? I guess I should clip their wings. How much should I clip? My fence isn't that high, only four feet. Isn't it too young for them to start this? They are only about 6 months old.
Depending on their strength and motivation, they might still be able to get over a four foot fence after wing clipping. My fence is five foot tall, and they rarely get over now that I've trimmed their wings, but it's not impossible. Turkeys have very long, strong legs, and even short flight feathers can sometimes give enough of a boost to clear a short fence.
If you've never clipped wings before, here's how I do it. Ideally, have a second person available to help you who isn't scared of them, a table to stand them on so you don't have to bend over, and some sharp, heavy duty dog nail trimmers (the scissor type, not the guillotine type). You might be able to trim their wings with scissors, but the quills are very strong, and it will be more difficult on your hand, and the birds. If your table is slippery, put something down for traction. I use the rubbery mesh shelf liner. It doesn't slip at all, it's cheap, it's available from Costco (and probably every store with kitchen supplies), and has thousands of uses.
First lift the bird onto the table. Place the bird such that the bird is standing up, and its side is against your assistant's belly or chest (so if your assistant is facing either north or south, the bird is facing either east or west). Have you assistant hold the bird by first putting his/her arms underneath the body (one arm in front and one behind the legs), the wrap the arms upward until the hands are on the bird's back, and pull the bird close enough to keep it from moving (but not so close as to squeeze it -- birds don't have a diaphragm, so they can't breath if they can't expand their ribs). You should be standing on the other side of the table, or at the end of the table if very close, however you can reach the wing most easily.
To clip, first gently extend the wing out about 1/4 to 1/2 of the way. The bird will likely fuss and try to get away, or pull the wing back, unless you've handled it in this way before. If the wing gets out of your hand, just gently extend it out again. Some birds tolerate it better if you aim the wing straight out to the side, but most of mine are more cooperative if you aim the wing downward as much as outward.
There are many ways to cut wings, but heritage turkeys are strong fliers, so I haven't been able to control their flight adequately unless I cut the last 10 flight feathers. All other patterns I've tried haven't worked. (Note: If showing, I've been told you are only allowed to cut one wing so the judges can evaluate wing feathers on at least one side. I don't show, so I don't know if this is true or not.) Since I don't show, I clip both wings so that they're not off balance when they try to fly, or when they glide down from their roost.
First, quickly check each feather that you plan to cut to be sure that it's not a blood feather. A blood feather is a young feather that still has blood in the quill (shaft). The quill will look quite different than normal. Do not cut a blood feather, as it will bleed for a long time. If you find a blood feather, leave it and one feather on either side of it (to protect it from breaking). Check it weekly, and cut it when it has matured into a regular feather.
Once you've checked for blood feathers, be sure that there isn't anything in the way of your scissors/clippers that you don't want to cut. Having an assistant makes this much easier. I have seen people accidently cut off birds toes, wing tips, sides of wings, snoods, etc. when birds moved at the wrong time. Nail trimmers are much safer than long, sharp scissors in this regard. You cut the shaft (quill) of the feather with the nail trimmers, and the side barbs will separate away automatically.
Clipping the feather in the right place is very important. Many people cut as close to the wing as possible, and that can create many problems for the bird. I've seen chronic pain from feather shafts splitting (often unseen, like when a person gets hit in the mouth and the tooth looks fine, but the tooth root is invisibly cracked), infections at the feather insertion site, damage to the body or leg from the short shaft stubs, etc. Flight feathers should be cut to be even with the secondary wing feathers. When you spread out the wing and look at the wing feathers, the longest ones (the flight feathers, about 8-14 inches long on 6 month olds, originating from the bottom of the wing) will be on the bottom. The secondary feathers (about 4-8 inches long and originating on the side of the wing) will be on top of those, but not as long. And the shortest feathers, originating near the top of the wing, will be on top of those. So there's three layers.
Cut only the bottom layer, cut only the outer 10 feathers, and cut only enough length to make the bottom layer even with the middle layer. If you cut both sides, it will decrease their lift by more than 95%. Be sure to put some padding in the landing area where they fly down from their roosts for the first week, because they will likely crash down until they get used to having no air lift to control their landings. If you cut only one side it may not work quite as well, as I have seen some birds that can partially compensate for uneven lift.
