What age do adult feathers grow in?

[kasey08]

i asked about it a couple of weeks ago and a lady said she clipped there wings on both side to the ones that would escape...but idk if i'll so it or not yet

 

[Iheartmyhens]

I HAD to trim my pullets' wings-after deciding to roost in the fruit trees, first morning my man woke up to find 3 on the neighbor's roof and the other 3 flown out over the covered tarp and into the larger bamboo where the dogs could reach them! Fortunately he was able to coach them back in and I pulled them out of the trees after dusk one at a time & trimmed the wings! The dwarf fruit trees are now worse for wear...

I would be sure to make any outdoor runs for your little chickies with a cover to keep them safe from feral cats and hawks.

 

[HathawayHens]

Thanks for this post! It is very interesting! (I have EE's and was wondering if they will keep changing colors as they grow) I just wanted to add that if you do need to clip wings, it usually works better if you only clip one side - that way the bird is more unstable. If you clip both wings, some birds can still fly.

 

[Iheartmyhens]

Lopsided one wing clipping is probably a good idea, esp. if you've never clipped wings before! I have some experience clipping wings so I'm comfortable cutting both sides pretty closely-as long as you don't hit any blood feathers it doesn't hurt the bird or cause bleeding. (Blood feathers are still growing in and still have a keritin sheath on them for anyone who isn't familiar with that).

 

[Ridgerunner]

Something from the Learning Center above, attributed to Gail Damerow.

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

 

[chickymaggie]

We got our first chickens from A nighbor who was free ranging the chickens. We live right next to a road and some of them got run over when they were exploring. So when we got them I put them in a run so they couldnt go into the road. They kept escaping though because my run has a open top. So I had to clip some of their wings to keep them in. I only had to do it once though. After that they just started staying in for the most part. I still have one hen that likes to come out once and a while but she doesnt go far because our rooster is still in the run and she doesnt like to be far from him and after a little bit usually tries to go back in.

 

[LTygress]

Some bantams and game chickens fly 15 feet up to a tree branch to roost. The heavier breeds do not fly as well, but if they are motivated, they can easily get over a 5 or 6 foot high fence.

Some large breed chickens can fly high enough if motivated, too. We had a rooster that had attacked my 12-year-old niece. Because of that, we had to put him down (yes, he went to the dinner table). But in order to capture him, we had to wait until after dusk, and knock him out of a tree branch 15 feet off of the ground!

My chickens have almost always been 100% free-range, without even a fence to contain them. If they leave the yard, they go to either neighbor beside us. But we're on 3 acres, so they rarely leave anyway. There is no one behind us for quite a ways, so they haven't been there. They LOVE being in the woods, but I could always call them back (as long as I was waiting with mealworms, superworms, or crickets... lol!) We also live on a dead-end street, so it was pretty safe to let them go.

Prior to moving here, I kept my original 9 chickens in a 1/4 acre yard with 6-foot tall privacy fencing and they never flew out. Although that could be because it was privacy fencing, and they couldn't really see outside of it.