Wing clipping...yay or nay

[arlyons65]

I inherited some grown chickens a few years ago when we bought a house. Since then we moved and I am now getting baby chicks next week to start my own little backyard flock. I live in a small town inside the city limits. We can have chickens. When I let them out of the pen to free range the yard, I don’t want them to fly over our 6 foot fence and escape or get harmed by roaming dogs and birds of prey. Do any of you clip the wings and if so do you just do one side?

 

[Mckennas poultry]

type of chickens? Big chickens generally won't fly much once full grown. I had a couple get over a 5ft fence but they cheated flew about 4.5 and then used the fence to get over. That was when they were about half grown. Now I had to trim my ganders wings every year because he got over the fence several times.

The problem with that is the odd one would forget how to get back in, there’s always one

 

[theoldchick]

Pick a large breed chicken that are simply to heavy to fly far. Stay away from the game breeds as they can fly purty darn good. Bantams can get some good air time, too.

 

[MotherOfPeepPeeps]

I never clipped wings on my hens because I though that some ability to fly so that they would have a better chance of being able to escape potential predators... I have recently moved to town though and my first urban flock is still in the brooder, so I may have to rethink that. I will just have to wait and see.

 

[techbsmith]

Lots of opinions...mine is - I do not clip wings. My run and coop areas are completely enclosed/covered so there's no worry of escape. I do have a 10X10 dog kennel that's 6' tall that I let the girls into for some free ranging - we basically call it "Yard time for the prisoners" since they make such a fuss when I don't open the run and let them trot out to the kennel for all that yummy grass. I only let them in the kennel when I'm able to plop down inside with them, kicked back in a chair and watching for hawks.

We have a lot of hawks .. so, yard time has to be supervised..just like a prisoner!

 

[lazy gardener]

How big is your yard ? Chickens don’t stray too far, they usually have their own boundary. What breed of chicken ? Only bantams can fly

Pick a large breed chicken that are simply to heavy to fly far. Stay away from the game breeds as they can fly purty darn good. Bantams can get some good air time, too.

MANY breeds of chickens can fly well enough to clear a tall fence. And the more free range time they get, the farther they roam from home base.

I have an EE hen who can easily clear a 6' fence. I have no doubt that she will continue to be able to do so for the remainder of her life. Agreed with TOC, larger breeds are less likely to fly, yet, even with clipped wings, my determined birds can fly pretty high. Their perch is 3.5' off ground.

I do not clip wings, unless there is a gal with a behavior issue, like my EE hen. She is due for a clipping. She will fly to the top of my 6' high run to have a look see at what's going on up there.

In your situation, you might want to clip wings when your birds are first about 6 - 8 weeks old, and continue doing so as they go through their multiple "baby" molts. When clipped at a young age, they are less likely to attempt those "get in trouble" flights as they mature. Similar to the baby elephant who is tethered with a tiny rope as a baby. He learns that he can't break free, so stops continuing to try. As an adult the same flimsy rope will hold him secure.

 

[BantyChooks]

I free range now, but when I had to keep my birds in a run I clipped their wings. They can't fly well enough to escape predators even if left unclipped. Plus, if they're in a run (which is the only reason to clip their wings, really) you should be keeping predators out, not hoping they can fly far enough.

Large breed birds do fly, and quite well sometimes. I saw a Leghorn (~2 yrs old) stay airborne for about 150 feet. Dual purpose breeds sometimes only fly about 10 feet... but that's enough to clear a fence.

Also, I clip both wings. In terms of getting over fences, it's really the thrust that you have to eliminate, and that's best done by clipping as much of the feather as possible off. In my opinion, anyway. That's what stopped my bantams. If your birds are anything like mine, they don't stand back and fly completely over, they go up close, jump, and scramble over, using legs and wings and beak and everything at their disposal to grab the top and get themselves over.

As a side note, my perches are 3.8' off the ground, and birds with clipped wings still have no problem reaching them.

 

[Mckennas poultry]

I never clipped wings on my hens because I though that some ability to fly so that they would have a better chance of being able to escape potential predators... I have recently moved to town though and my first urban flock is still in the brooder, so I may have to rethink that. I will just have to wait and see.

I agree, if you get chickens that can fly then let them fly. It helps them get away from predators.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

i had inherited some grown chickens a few years ago when we bought a house. Since then we moved and I am now getting baby chicks next week to start my own little backyard flock. I live in a small town inside the city limits. We can have chickens. When I let them out of the pen to free range the yard, I don’t want them to fly over our 6 foot fence and escape or get harmed by roaming dogs and birds of prey. Do any of you clip the wings and if so do you just do one side?

Good morning.

I DO use wing clipping for some birds. Doing so, as you note may actually be what KEEPS them safe.

Most of my birds enjoy the space within my fences well enough. It's usually those pesky , curious Easter Eggers... mine can easily clear the roof standing still from the ground. And they always wanna hide their eggs!

Before I started I thought the single wing was the right way to go. The THEORY of unbalance. It was however COMPLETELY ineffective in almost every case for me so far. I also have used it to keep roosters in their own pasture. But a close bilateral cut on BOTH wings does work to take some lift out of them... keeping most of them inside my 4 foot fence. When I say most of them, I mean the VERY few that insist the grass is greener on the other side and try to teach the others to follow. I don't do it for the majority of birds. And I think they still have plenty of jumping evasion techniques when clipped. So that little bit of wing isn't going to save any of my birds from a predator that might be after them. But they are safer INSIDE my fence without the extra lift then outside my fence with plenty of lift.

I use stock yard fencing... most birds try to go through NOT OVER. When I lived in the city, I didn't have to clip wings at all. So it will depend heavily on the individual bird if you will want to consider clipping or not. I personally would not unless a problem or POSSIBLE problem (like one heading to the fence top to look around) presented itself... since it very often ISN'T an issue.

Birds that continue bad behavior are re-homed to someone that completely confines them in a covered run.

Same here!

I think the reason they may not try again after molt is because they already know they can't make it and so they have given up trying and don't know molting might offer more lift.

Funny, I'm telling you it's the EE EVERY time!

 

[lazy gardener]

Gotta love those EE. I don't think I could have a flock without them! Even if they are prone to being a pain in the heiney.