Best way to trim my roosters spurs

[Weeg]

Upon inspection of the hens today, I noticed two of them had older "gashes" on the same side of their body. I'm assuming both are spur injuries from our rooster. He broke one Spur off last fall, so thats still reply short and rounded. The other needs to be trimmed. I tried just clipping the very end off to see if that would keep it from bleeding, but it didn't. I finally had to resort to wrapping a cotton swab to the end of the spur, and securing it with duck tape. I let him go and it seems the bleeding is stopped. I hardly put anything, there has to be a better way to do this.
Does this video seem like a good source or way to remove the spur sheath? It looked minimally invasive, and I saw another poster suggesting it back in a 2008 thread, but thats outdated information so I thought I'de check here. Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[azygous]

I twist off my roosters' spurs with pliers. Takes just a few seconds. Spray with Vetericyn afterwards.

It works well with hens, too. I have several hens with spurs, and occasionally, the spurs grow curving towards the shank. I remove them with the pliers, twist slightly back and forth until you see the spur loosen at the base, then simply lift them off the nub.

 

[Weeg]

I twist off my roosters' spurs with pliers. Takes just a few seconds. Spray with Vetericyn afterwards.

It works well with hens, too. I have several hens with spurs, and occasionally, the spurs grow curving towards the shank. I remove them with the pliers, twist slightly back and forth until you see the spur loosen at the base, then simply lift them off the nub.

Awesome! So exactly like that video then. Thank you so much! I figured there had to be a better way than clipping.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

@azygous I have a few pullets that have spurs. They'll be a year old in August. If the girls fight each other, do they use the spurs in fighting? I haven't noticed this yet, but that doesn't mean much. Is there any reason to leave the spurs on hens? Both of my bantam Cochin roosters have one of their spurs shaped like a "C" so I'll have to remove theirs before long. My Barred Bantam Cochin actually got his curved spur stuck in the chain link fencing as he jumped up to fence fight with other roosters. Thankfully he was able to free himself before I could get to him to help.

 

[azygous]

@HeatherKellyB I have never seen spurs on a hen younger than several years. They take time to grow. Even cockerels only have barely half an inch of spur at one year.

But, no, hens do not usually use their spurs in disagreements. The reason for removing a hen's spurs would be if they were getting too long that they might get hung up on the roosting perch and cause injuries, or if they are growing curved back toward the shank.

Last summer, my hen Summer needed to have hers removed for that reason. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/hens-need-spurs-removed-sometimes-too.1393474/

 

[Weeg]

Just went and removed them.
Figured it was a good time since he was already perched up. They came off easy as expected, but they seemed to bleed quite a bit after. Is that normal?

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I'll get pictures of my two pullets. They're still quite nubby ended but I wanted to ask since this is new to me. One of them was hatched from Spitzhauben eggs I ordered but she's mostly solid black with a few white feathers here and there, so I imagine she's mixed something (lays a white egg). The other one looks like a RIR X Easter Egger (she lays a beautiful moss colored egg). I may have pictures on my phone but they're no longer than a half inch, if that

 

[HeatherKellyB]

@Weeg how much effort did you have to put into it to make them detach? Way to go jumping on that so quickly

 

[azygous]

Spurs don't normally bleed. However, occasionally a rooster will continue to ooze more blood than the normal serum that coats the nub.

One of my two roos, Strawberry, is a bleeder. Just last month, his spurs had to come off again since they were two inches or more and curving. They were simply too dangerous for him and for the hens.

In the past, his spurs would continue to bleed for days. That wasn't so bad, but he's an active boy and the blood got all over everything, and the coop looked more like a slaughterhouse. No, cornstarch or flower or sugar wouldn't stop the bleeding.

I've tried wrapping the spurs with Vetrap, and that solved the bleeding all over everything problem, but his spurs wouldn't harden all bandaged up. I took the bandages off and he started bleeding all over again.

This time, I removed his spurs, squirted Vetericyn on them and then popped him into a large pet crate for the next 24 hours. Then I let him out to roam as usual, but kept the hens away from him. At night for the next week, I put him in his crate and put it in the coop so he was near the hens at night. When his spurs got a hard, dry, dark crust on them, I let him go back to his normal life. This worked out much better than in the past.

 

[Weeg]

@Weeg how much effort did you have to put into it to make them detach? Way to go jumping on that so quickly

Thank you! I found quite a large "puncture" scabbed over on one of my hens. It was like a giant hole, and a small gash on another. I knew I had to do something ASAP.
The longer one it took a few good twists. Otherwise it seemed to pop off after 3-5 twists.
The second one I did squeeze a bit accidentally when the spur sheath popped off, so maybe thats why.