Update!!!To clip or not to clip?

[txajackson]

I live in the city and have chain link fence on one side of my yard. Three of my 8 hens ocassionally jump the fence and look for bugs in my neighbors yard. The house is up for sale and no one lives there. But the owner is obviously not chicken friendly(not really friendly at all) and lo and behold animal control showed up this week because of her complaint. Well I took him in my back yard and he was so surprised. He was expecting 40-50 chickens running loose the way she told it to him. Anyway, I am with in compliance and he said in 10 years he has never seen such a beautiful coop. Just have to keep the 3 trouble makers on my side of the fence.
So....should I clip their wings? Do you clip one or both wings? Will they still be able to fly on to their roost?
Help? I really dont want to put up a fence...I dont want my neighbor to think she won!!!

 

[san415]

I clip the wings of the hens that fly out of my run. I clip both the wings, I only need to do it once a year with one hen and with a second hen only needed yo do it when she was young. I had parrots when I was younger so have clipped a lot of bird feathers in my day. If you need any advice I have posted in the past on clipping with some instructions and diagrams, you might want to search the term or look at my past posts if its a new thing to you. Its easier with two people, but most times I have had to do it by myself.

 

[RHRanch]

go ahead and clip it, just make sure you do it right. I see people chop off all thier birds wing feathers - this is ugly and doesn't set the bird off balance, so sometimes they can still fly. Only clip one side, this puts the bird off balance, making it hard to "catch air" and clip the right feathers only! Doesn't hurt them, although I will add that you should not cut a growing feather beacuase it has a blood supply. Cut mature feathers only.

Heres a diagram: http://users.on.net/~schlegl/docdog/wing_clipping.htm

 

[txajackson]

Thanks for your advice and diagram. Will they still be able to fly to their roost?

 

[RHRanch]

Yes, unless it is very high

 

[txajackson]

Ok guys...I clipped my 3 naughty hen's wings. I went by the general concensus and only clipped the right side. I clipped the 10 flight feathers to just a little shorter then the back feathers just like the diagrams and pictures I found showed. The first few days they did not fly over the fence. Now it seems they have figured out how to work at it and get over. Should I clip the other side? Its only seemed to slow them down but not solved the problem. Ugh!!!

 

[openheartnp]

How high is the fence that they are getting over? And what is in that yard that they love? Can you possibly get it in your yard to entice them to stay? Or maybe get some chicken fencing, overlap it near the top of the fence and bend it towards your side. Are they taking running leaps?

 

[txajackson]

They are flying over a 4 foot chain link fence. There is nothing over there, just more dried up grass like we have!! (Drought in texas!) These girls are mixed breed and are fairly small so I guess they are just real light. They just fly right up. The wing clipping seems to have slowed them down a bit. Because when I have caught them the last few days they are pacing trying to get over. I bring out a snack and then they come right over. The fence is not ours so as nasty as the lady is next door, im sure we cant do anything to her fence. We would love to put up a wooden fence, but cant afford it. Im at loss!

 

[RHRanch]

Can you extend the height of the fence with netting or chicken wire? I would try that, if possible, and still maintain thier wings being clipped. Also, cut back any trees or shrubs near the fence, and take away anything near the fence they can hop onto to help themselves over the top.

 

[debid]

They may be running up the fence with wings flapping rather than flying over. I've watched one of my pullets do this with a 6' chainlink fence. If this is the case, you're not going to keep them in with anything less than a taller and harder-to-climb fence or locking them in a run.