calinz Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 I would be so grateful of any help here please, my girls were flying to top of 4 ft fence so this weekend i was really giddy to get my 6 foot lattice fencing up on one side of our garden for them to free range all day. Except this morning i heard the gate rattle turned around and daisy was perched on top of the 6ft gate!!! how is she doing this?? think we should clip more off her wing but dont want to go too far - can anyone help please? thanks so much, they're back in run at mo, for my sanity!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 **here** is a guide to clipping wings. If they are definitely in an area that is fox proof, then you could clip both wings. Try with one first and see how you get on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gamebird Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 I don't think you can cut their wings any further up without hurting the chicken. You can only trim the primary feathers as the others provide necessary insulation. Your girls are still quite young but as they get older and bigger they will probably settle down and decide it's just too much effort to fly. Mine were exactly the same but now at 8months the most they do is run across the grass flapping their wings but don't take off. Their wings have never been clipped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abbey Road Girl Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 With all due respect to Christian (and please correct me if I'm wrong), I think the whole idea of wing-clipping is to unbalance the chicken so that flying becomes difficult. I can certainly see that mine are a bit tipsy when they do use their wings for a brief flutter. You can indeed clip them too deeply and have a bleeding bird. If you are going to clip wings, I would have the current location of cobwebs in mind, just in case. Cobwebs applied to wounds are good at stopping bleeding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 If both wings are clipped, they don't get the same degree of "lift". I haven't wing clipped for a while, but I did find that doing just one didn't make a hap'orth of difference to the more determined escapees. They are too old and too fat now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hen Watch Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 Another good picture here about wing clipping. http://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-wingclipping.html I wing clipped myself and it's actually easy (as long as someone else is holding the chook). The printed Omlet guide I have says "a good guide is to cut the first 6-7 feathers back as far as the tips of the next line of feathers". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abbey Road Girl Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 If both wings are clipped, they don't get the same degree of "lift". I haven't wing clipped for a while, but I did find that doing just one didn't make a hap'orth of difference to the more determined escapees. That makes sense, Egluntine (and Christian). Damned if you do and damned if you don't! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calinz Posted July 21, 2008 Author Share Posted July 21, 2008 Thank you everyone! We now have 2 (apparently) flightless chooks, hopefully!! we re-checked their wing and i think we were maybe just a bit cautious when we did it first time, they are our first chooks and we had only had them for a week and were getting them ready for coming out of the run. anyway when we compared what we had done with what the omlet picture looked like they weren't quite the same! i haven't seen either take off since phew! my chicken expert friend at work actually said that he didn't think they would've jumped off and that even though she was looking, she would want to stay close to her chook buddy and home, which made me feel better, even if it isn't true i want to believe it! thanks again everyone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moomin Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 my chicken expert friend at work actually said that he didn't think they would've jumped off and that even though she was looking, she would want to stay close to her chook buddy and home, which made me feel better, even if it isn't true i want to believe it! If it's any help my two are constantly 'eyeing up' the top of our six foot fences. But they've never made an attempt to jump up there, even when they park themselves on a nearby bench. Try and relax a bit, if they are happy pottering about where they live it's unlikely they will jump off, they will probaby just panic!! There are other Omleteers who will prove me wrong though - you do get the odd escapee!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calinz Posted July 21, 2008 Author Share Posted July 21, 2008 Try and relax a bit, if they are happy pottering about where they live it's unlikely they will jump off, they will probaby just panic!! There are other Omleteers who will prove me wrong though - you do get the odd escapee!! Thanks for that Ros, yes i do tend to panic a bit! i'm so excited about having them, its even more fun than i expected, they have such funny mannerisms i could watch them all day! they put me to shame last week, when we first got them they were on the lawn so i put a shallow pot in the run filled with earth so they could dustbath but when i moved them to a permanent softer area filled with bark chippings they made the deepest holes you could imagine, really put my pathetic attempt to shame!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moomin Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 Try cheap potting compost mixed with play-sand and mite powder, it took 'em a while but mine love it now. I chuck it into a big shallow flower pot. They watch me mixing it up and then they jump straight in! I was the most nervous person about keeping chickens, but the longer you have them the more they become part of your family and you stop worrying so much!! Mine had all the illnesses (or so I thought) in their first week! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calinz Posted July 22, 2008 Author Share Posted July 22, 2008 Try cheap potting compost mixed with play-sand and mite powder, it took 'em a while but mine love it now. I chuck it into a big shallow flower pot. They watch me mixing it up and then they jump straight in! I was the most nervous person about keeping chickens, but the longer you have them the more they become part of your family and you stop worrying so much!! Mine had all the illnesses (or so I thought) in their first week! That sounds great! what a fab idea. just out of interest, are you another auboise fan? been reading a bit about it on the forum, thinking about trying it but need a full waterproof cover first for the run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hen Watch Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 [That sounds great! what a fab idea. just out of interest, are you another auboise fan? been reading a bit about it on the forum, thinking about trying it but need a full waterproof cover first for the run. Auboise fan here too. If you've got the Omlet winter shade that would probably give enough cover for the Summer months to keep the Auboise reasonably dry. In winter I use a shower curtain to keep run+auboise completely dry. I don't use the shower curtain in the summer so that I don't end up with oven baked hot chickens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
