Wing Clipping Chickens
A month ago we enlarged the chicken coop. The chicks and the hens are quite happy with the set-up, having plenty of room to scratch around for poor hapless insects. But there was one who would not be content and who became clever to the fact that she could fly out whenever she so pleased.
Life on this earth would not have had a happy ending for the little black hen if our dogs would have found her before I did on 3 separate occasions. Clearly something had to be done. That something was to clip the wing of the chicken.
I enlisted my resident farm hand, Zachary, to assist me in the task.
First we had to catch the thing. The key to catching a chicken is speed. You can’t slow down when you go to grab them but you must follow through all the way till you have it clutched in your hands.
Don’t worry, little hen, it’s going to be quick and you won’t feel a thing!
You only need to clip one wing. By doing this it causes them to lack balance in their flight. As their wing feathers grow back, you will need to clip them again. If they are an older bird, it might take up to a year for the feathers to grow when they molt. If they are young, it could be only a few months.
You will only be clipping the first 10 flight feathers. You cut them about 1/2 way down the feather. Scissors work perfectly fine for this job and the feather is very easy to cut through.
She now is safe from those predators that have a passion for fresh chicken.
7 Comments
Jen
We had to do this to a new chicken. I let her out of the box and she flew straight up over my head and into the bush. It took a week to catch her and we clipped her wings when we did.
Elisabeth
You must have had to move really move fast to catch her. Glad she escaped any predators!
Zippi
Loved reading your post!
I also like your new blog picture of the lettuce at the top…looks GREAT!
Love,
Zoe
Paula
The best time to clip them is after they’ve gone to the roost for the night. Go out there while it’s still a little bit light out and have someone help you hold them. We do this about every 6 months.
of course, if they are already out of the run, you gotta catch them!
Elisabeth
Good idea, Paula. They seem so helpless when it gets to be night time.
Meg
This is so good to know! I love that you posted pictures, because hubby and I have been talking for a couple weeks about doing this but have no idea how! We have had the chickens for 11 weeks now.
Thank you for the post!
Elisabeth
Meg,
Seriously, it takes about 30 seconds to clip the chickens wing after catching it. I was a little intimidated at first but there’s nothing to it. As Paula suggested here in the comments, do it at night when the chickens have gone to roost. What a great suggestion.
Elisabeth