Uh Oh... What did I get myself into?

[chickenlove2009]

Quote:
I thankfully never needed to I got 10 acres. but even if i didn't I couldn't imagine clipping their feathers. Don't they look ugly?

 

[lisahaschickens]

I believe you just have to clip a little and only specific flight feathers and only on one side, so I don't think it hurts their image too much and it is painless for them.

 

[MontanaMomma]

AN UPDATE ON MY NEW Leghorn CHICKIES-
since it is still dropping below zero here in the northland, the "chickies" are still in a box in the house. I recently installed a mini roost and they love it! They are growing very fast and have feathers on their wings and are getting feathers on their backs and undersides now, so perpetually look like they had a rough night out. But their tail feathers are oh so lacey and nice. They are eating lots too, and will need gravel since we give them treats of oatmeal often. They got yogurt for the first time last night and did not like the feel of it on thier beaks! We let them out of their box for cleaning time each day and they like to run around and one charged our curious cat last night as well. Busy night! They also recently discovered their wings, so when they are out of their box they fly across the room and umph! crash landing. All is well, anxiously waiting for better weather, or out goes the peeyoo chickies to the coop with a heat lamp. As for the flying and neighbors, we'll worry about that when the time comes. Thanks, momma

 

[Tweeza]

We have 10 pullets that outgrew their run by 4 months (January) so had to free range out of necessity. We clipped their flight feathers on one wing and let them go. Each one of them tried to fly but of course could not. The highest any of them ever got was about 2 ft. They did this for a few days and now I never see them trying to fly.

 

[cwc362]

Don't know if anybody has posted this link on this thread but here is the page from BYC on clipping wings- It doesn't hurt the looks much since you are only cutting off the long feathers of ONE wing. It's really easy and doesn't hurt the chicken. I've used this method several times over the years and it's a great thing to keep the chickens from flying up really high. If you are worried about them roosting make sure you put a little ladder up the roost poles. It can be as simple as a plank with little boards nailed to it every few inches. Good luck!! And the leghorns are egg laying machines but I don't think they go broody very much.

Good luck with you new chicks and here is the link for wing clipping-

https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-wingclipping.html

 

[MontanaMomma]

Uh oh, now we've really done it! Chickies are still inside- it is still pretty cold outside, but they are almost completely feathered out. And yup you guessed it- Peeee Yoooo stinky. We will try it again with the coop this weekend. Last time it dipped way below freezing and they were not eating or drinking. So back into the house they went. Now we have another source of excitement- a year old chocolate lab we adopted from the pound. Yeeha! I think we officially have a farm now! My cat has also found joy in watching the chickies and poke paws through holes in the box!

 

[chickens4me]

I had two leghorns last year & had to rehome them. They were very flighty. They even flew with their wings clipped extensively! I, personally, did not enjoy having them around, but that is just my very humble opinion. I love my brown egg layers though.....

Yours may be different though?