Wing clipping

[Chick1043]

So my girls like to free range between a six foot fence and 3 foot fence. Our neighbors who live behind the six foot fence has a pittbull! A dangerous pittbull. It has cornered me and some friends before. I know this is weird but I have been having dreams about my girls jumping on the 3 foot then on the 6 foot fence and over the fence. Across the yard from those fences I have a 3 foot chicken tractor (for the chicks I'm raising) and the coop which is 6 feet. So same heights. WEIRD I was putting the girls away and my Ameracauna, Gypsy, jumped on the chicken tractor and then on the coop! Just like in my dream only (luckily) not over a fence, with a pittbull! lol Then last night my RIR cock, Kevin, was perching on the top of the brooder box and he was intensively (I guess you could say) studying the ceiling fan. He started acting like he was gonna jump, and did! He jumped at least 5 feet..Just imagine when he's old enough to go outside! My question is, is if I clipped one (of all) the chickens wings, how high can they jump? I know there was probably no need to tell you the whoooole story but just thought I'd share! Thanks!

 

[Pele]

Chickens can jump about 4 feet, even with wings clipped. BUT they are very picky about where they jump up to. I would clip thier wings, then put up anti-pigeon strips on the top of the coop and fence. Chickens will refuse to jump on something like that.

Good luck!

 

[klmclain1]

I clipped both wings on all my chickens because they were going over our 6 foot rock wall to the front yard! I have to keep our chicken tractor away from the wall so they don't use it as a step-ladder over the wall. I think the pigeon wire is a great idea!!!!

 

[Chick1043]

So how high can they jump with 1 wing cut and how high with 2 wings cut? Thanks!

 

[rjchicks]

I think you should keep the wings because if they do jump over and can't fly they will be eaten instantly and if they had their wings they could atleast try to escape.

 

[so lucky]

How high they can jump varies a lot. It depends on the strength and weight of the chicken. My runt can jump (fly) much higher than the big heavy girls. Dovie jumped over a 6 ft fence when she was startled. Wings not clipped at the time. She can still jump about 5 feet, with both wings clipped.

 

[LiLRedCV]

I read somewhere to just clip one wing as opposed to both. Supposed to throw them off balance...? 'Cuz with both clipped, it still keeps them even. I don't know how high they can jump with either choice tho'.

 

[Ohhhdear]

My ISA Brown hens are heavy production birds, and I have watched them fly 6 feet to the roof of their coop. So I clipped their wings (one side), and they still can do a standing broad jump/hop over the 4 foot fence, no problems. If there's something they really want on the green side of the fence, that's where they get to.

So, I was wandering around TSC and found some heavy squeeze closed oval links (about 1.5" long) which are designed to join two lengths of chain. Each link weighs just a few ounces. I opened them a bit farther with a pliers then slipped a link around their legs. I held each bird still while my son used two pairs of pliers to carefully squeeze the link shut. No rough edges and the links don't rub any sores. I've had the links on the hens since mid-August and only one hen has "escaped" the pasture fence. So she acquired another piece of "jewelry" on the same leg.
The hens were a little funny at first, hopping and jangling around, but it's really worked. Each link cost about .69 or so.