Wing clipping...yay or nay

[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!

 

[Conan]

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.

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!

I wonder why it's the EE every time - But, it ALWAYS is! I had one couple years ago that you just couldn't contain. Easily hopped six foot fences. She was actually my favorite bird and just wanted to be near people.
I have two EE pullets now and one of them instantly hops on your shoulder the second the coop is opened. Such hoppers and fliers! I guess that is just their nature. They are almost always my favorite birds, gotta love an EE.
That being said, I do not clip. I free range on a couple acres. I have a group of five Bantam Cochin hens, a Bantam Cochin rooster and an old Welsummer hen. I have a group of four standard girls that are almost ready for integration (2 EE, 2 Speckled Sussex). I have noticed that the bantams stick near the house and don't tend to wander far. My standard girls branch out and have been known to walk in a tidy row down the road to the neighbor's yard. I added electric poultry netting this year hoping that will keep them in. Suppose time will tell.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

They are almost always my favorite birds, gotta love an EE.

Yes, I will always have at least one EE despite raising all pure breeds now. One gal who will sometimes follow me around and insist on jumping to my shoulder even rides me up and down the ladder as I do chores... quit hiding her eggs after I made sure to leave fake ones in the nest (and she accidentally got herself into the stag pen on her way back into the yard one day). I noticed every time I would find her spot she would look for another and we got blackberries! She still likes to find the highest pulpit she can and sing from the roof tops a good long LOUD sermon at the top of her lungs until everybody is ignoring her show and she suddenly quietly slips away to lay her egg. And nobody notices she has shut up. It's interesting to see their different strategies for survival. If only she knew that not preaching on days she doesn't lay is what gave her away to me. Monkey see, chicken do. Stop the leader, curbs the rest. All my birds, even the Silkies roam far and wide. But that depends on how large and adventurous their brood groups were. Smaller groups are more cautious in my experience and slower to venture out.

I added electric poultry netting this year hoping that will keep them in.

If they hop up towards the top... they won't be grounded and it won't effect them in ANY way. If they get stung near the bottom it MIGHT make them avoid the fence line. My stag pen has e wire and it's VERY effective, WHEN they are grounded and when it is at the proper height for it's intended target. Some peeps on here even ONLY run a low hot wire (like waddle/comb height) and they can step over but keeps the birds in their own pastures!

Your flock sounds lovely.

 

[Mark Armstrong]

Out of my 13 ladies I have 3 EE's, 2 of one variety and the third is of another, She's light for her size and flew out nearly every day, after a good clipping she still flew out, I had left one of the storage doors on my camper open for a few days and shut it as I was walking by one afternoon, we went camping the following weekend and to my surprise when I opened the door I found 3 eggs in the storage that I had left open, found 2 more in the electric cord storage, how she got into that small hole I don't know, she finally became consistent about laying in an old planter box on my deck, I've since had to screen in the top of my run due to some predator problems so she's caged now, As you might guess she earned the name "Flighty", she has some other peculiarity's as well but we love her just the same

 

[sawilliams]

Before moving to a small ranch I had just a few select hens that could jump a 6ft fence. Anything under a year and Easter eggers seem to be particularly skilled in this area. My poor neighbor was constantly trying to get 1 or 2 back into my yard. Fortunatly he was always a good sport about it. But even with her wing clipped one in particular still often found a way to his yard, she really liked his pomegranate tree... I don't clip wings now unless I have one that is particularly flighty. But they usually freerange most of the day now so I prefer to let then do thier thing

 

[donnovan]

I live in a city with a 1/4 acre lot. My birds have a coop and run and are allowed to freely run around the back 20 feet of the lot all the time minus the garden area when I am trying to grow something. I built an automatic door for them so they can get out looking for stuff to eat before I am ready to leave the house. Only once have I had a problem with predators and that was at about 3am when a raccoon attacked them in the coop before the auto door. Clipped or not clipped I don't think it would have made a difference. I do clip my hens right wing nearly every year. (Some years they get new wing feathers and some they don't). I have the usual 4 foot chain link on the edges of my property and to section them off I have 3.5 foot decorative fencing from home depot. This works for me so if they get the itch to fly the coop they generally stay in my yard and not into the neighbors at which time I check their right wing to see if it needs to be clipped again. I rarely have a problem with them. What I wanted to note is that I do not have any place for them to roost on that is over 12 inches off the ground or the coop floor. The reason for this is I do not want them to learn to fly or hop very high. So far this is working. Good luck to you.

 

[townchicks]

I do clip my birds, my EE's are fully capable of flying over my 6 ft fence. My neighbors have dogs, so I can't take that chance. Even with her wings clipped, one of mine can still easily fly to the top of the coop ( 4 ft). I prefer to clip both wings, I feel that being unbalanced can lead to injuries.

 

[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.

 

[Conan]

And they are a pain! An entirely worth it pain... They do lay in weird places as many have mentioned - My favorite girl was prone to laying in a cardboard box of dried lavender I had on the deck. She was also prone to sitting on the door mat outside the kitchen slider begging for scraps. Like a dog. Probably didn't help that I gave in every time. If I opened the door, she would burst right in and start cleaning the kitchen floor of any goodies that may have fallen. I lost her to a coyote - I still miss her.

 

[rita2paul]

i always clip my new bantam girls. once done i normal don't need to do it again. they have a big electric fence around them to keep them safe.