hello well i have never clipped their wings before but i thought about it for a while. then my chickens got a little fater and stoped flying over our fence. if your chickens are heavy breeds but they are just young and little right now. i think they might get bigger. i have a couple of game hens that are smaller and they still fly over the fence. but i have a similar question to yours about the clipping the wings.

,malorie

Yeah, the banties are especially heinous about flying over fences, they are all muscle. We have several little banty girls that we trim the wings of. Usually the larger birds stay sensibly on the ground. Earlier this year though, one of our large Americaunas hens actually flew up onto the fence and then over into the neighbors' yard, followed by her son, our great big roo Phoenix! We had to go over and haul them back, and they got a scolding and a wing clipping for their trouble. So you never know who is going to go AWOL. :)

We've learned to keep things that provide a 'boost' over fences away from the fence--chairs, tables, etc. Also to make our yard the most attractive, especially to a hen that needs to lay an egg as the search for a nest site is most likely what causes the girls to hop the fence.

If you need to clip wings, it isn't hard, but it can be scary the first time. Get someone to hold the bird firmly while you clip, it's easier. Expect the bird to struggle or even sqwauk a bit as it tends to vibrate the wing and startle them, but if you do it right it does NOT hurt--it's like clipping your fingernails. If you have doubts, just don't clip them as short--you can always go back and trim a little more off.

Also, clip BOTH wings. Clipping only one wing just leaves them one whole wing to fly over the fence with, and it's a myth that clipping only one wing works. They will also look better with both wings clipped.

Here's a page on the right way AND the wrong way to clip wings (written for parrots, but perfect for chickens as well), it's got great illustrations:

http://birdmart.com/wings.html

If you look at my chicken webpage in the 'Stories' area, there is the tale of Houdini, the AWOL hen who repeatedly led us a merry chase through the neighborhood. She EARNED her name. *shudder*

Velvet ~:>

Thanks for the link Velvet, I was highly motivated to try this procedure until I saw the illustration, YIKES! I can't imagine cuting off that much of the wings? I thought it would be just snipping the tips! My hope is these girls will put on some weight and this will become a non-issue, for now they will remain penned.

I also need to learn about trimming spurs, I can tell my one remaining roo is going to have huge ones!

-Sheila :)

Well, remember that those illustrations show parrots, which are MUCH more aerodynamic than chickens. :) Just leave the wing a bit longer when you trim. The important thing is to trim the primary flight feathers.

I've trimmed lots and lots of wings, with never any harm done other than to the birds' pride. You may have to suck up to them afterwards using praise and a goodie or two. :)

Velvet ~:>

we trimmed the wings of our chickens and it didn't work as well, we finally added an extra 2-4 feet of fence to make it to tall for them to fly over so easily. It also help deterr any predators.