Hello everyone, My name is Adam and I have recently bought 3 chickens to free range in my garden. They have a secure coop and run but I do allow them to hang out in the garden. One of my birds (Suffolk Blue) is a bit of a flyer. She can jump over a 5 ft fence no problem at all. The girls don't seem to be bothered about leaving the garden too much as there is too much good grub, grass and dirt to play in. They also enjoy spending most of their time watching me through the window. I've been looking into just about every written and video instructional guide on cutting primary feathers and I'm no anxious about doing it at all. My main worry is that on all my birds, no matter what colour they are the shafts of the primary feathers appear dark all the way down to the tip. Every video or step by step guide shows feathers with obvious white shafts. I understand about where to cut and to not cut too close etc. But the shafts appear dark right to the tip. I'd be very grateful if someone could clear this up for me. I don't have an exact age for the birds other than they are young but appear to be fully grown. Any info on the feather shafts would be awesome. Thank You
Howdy CHICKENTIKKA82 and welcome to BYC I have not had to clip my chickens' wings because, like yours, they seem quite happy to stay in the garden and being round little bantams, jump and fly like bricks Anyways, just wondering if you have seen the guide to wing clipping in the BYC Learning Centre: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-to-clip-trim-the-wings-of-your-chicken-to-prevent-flight
clbz 3/28/12 at 11:54pm I'm surprised there aren't more comments about the possibility of bleeding. So here's something from another article: "It is absolutely imperative that you do not cut any new growth feathers with blood in the shaft. You should be able to tell the difference because the shaft will have a pinkish hue to it. Sometimes darker colored birds require holding the wing up to the sun to be able to clearly tell if they are new growth feathers. Cutting these feathers causes major pain to the chicken and major blood loss." For the complete text: http://www.chickenkeepingsecrets.com/keeping-chickens/clipping-chicken-wings-why-when-how/ I copied and pasted this comment from previous posters link. Seems most pertinent to your young blue shafted birds.
