Should I clip both wings on my chickens or just one?
Image by jana christy
Luna is our Black Australorp. She was 6 days old when this was done. She’s pretty silly.
Question by Maddie: Should I clip both wings on my chickens or just one?
I have 5 chickens and for most of the day they free roam around my yard. I have only been clipping one wing so far. Sometimes I try to put them inside a fenced in space with about a 2 foot fence. Most of the time they fly out and start walking around the yard again. I went outside to find that they had flown over the 4 foot fence that fences in my yard and were in my neighbors yard. I looked online and some people say that “chickens don’t fly so you don’t need to clip their wings” which obviously I know that’s not true. Others say only to clip one and some say they do most of their flying when they’re young and usually don’t do it that often when they are full grown. They are about 2 months old. I have a Rhode Island Red, 2 Barred Rocks, 2 Sex Links. So after all that my question is if clipping both their wings would help so that they wouldn’t be able to get up that far?
Can you help? Leave your own answer in the comments!
3 Responses to Should I clip both wings on my chickens or just one?
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I have 5 hens, also.
Their safety is my concern and responsibility. I would trim flight feathers only, on both wings, no matter what others say.
Owlwoman
December 2, 2013 at 9:27 am
You clip one. Clipping wings works by balance. If they have both clipped the same length, they can still fly. One clipped will stop them completely.
Here’s a good link
http://www.chickenkeepingsecrets.com/keeping-chickens/clipping-chicken-wings-why-when-how/
ShadowVixen
December 2, 2013 at 9:44 am
You are right to think they will grow out of it, but not until they are adult and laying eggs, which is when they usually settle down as their body weight increases. Also they get used to their own backyard territory and stop wondering what the world outside looks like.
At two months old, they are still only chicks really, aren’t they? You can clip their wings but at that young age it would be a pity to do this, when what you really need to do is to give them more protection against predators, or one day you will come home and find the fox or some other local predator has had the lot. If they can so easily fly out, then a predator can just as easily get in. They need a secure run, with a coop inside, and strong weldmesh sides and roof, which will give them a minimum of 2 sq. metres of floor space each. Just letting them wander about and fly off over the fence is very unsafe for them. If you keep them in a run they will be secure and you won’t ever need to clip their wings or worry about them.
Sunflower
December 2, 2013 at 10:43 am