I went through several iterations of wing clipping. Ultimately, most of my pullets had to have both wings clipped and the lighter weight breeds needed to have their secondaries removed as well.
They are molting in their new wing feathers now and I've not had to assist with any of that as the new feathers simply push the old feathers out, clipped or not.
Anonymous
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i don’t need to clip any wings but it’s good to know how.
Thank you for writing this. I am about to clip the wings on our hens soon because one flew over a 6ft fence into our neighbor's yard while their dog was out. The dog got the hen, but she is unharmed... this time at least. Our hens also keep flying over our garden fence which is 3ft tall. Hopefully the clipping helps keep them out of the garden as well.
My run is about 5+- ft high with no top. If you clip the feathers on one wing of each bird it will help.
On some birds you may even have to clip a few secondary flight feathers.
One wing throws the bird off balance and is more effective than trimming equal amounts off both wings is my experience.
Make sure there is "NO BLOOD" in the shaft of the feather before you clip or your bird may bleed to death.
This is good info for those who need to keep their chickens from flying. The pictures are helpful, as is the advice to use sharp scissors. It's not as easy as it seems. Maybe it's easier for a man, but regardless, heavy duty scissors will help.
This really helped me! Thanks for sharing this! It is shorter than I thought it would be but who cares? It gives almost all the info you need! Thank you.