Installing Indoor Cat Tree

[beach chick]

hi all

over the last 5 weeks, all of our 4 chooks have made a bid for freedom at one time or another... and today I found Mercedes and Chardonnay both out of the run at the same time.

 

my chicken herding technique is now honed to a fine art.

 

but, I'm thinking about wingclipping, because I think they are getting out by jumping on to the run and making a leap for it. (OH thinks they sneak out under the omlet fencing, but unless they can do SAS rolls I dont think so).

what are the pros and cons of wingclipping?

 

while I would prefer my girls to stay in their 'area' they probably wouldnt do too much harm if they occasionally roamed further because we've got a big garden. plus I work from home, so pop out every half hour or so to check on them and can easily round them up.

 

on the other hand, if I did clip them, would it make them more vulnerable to cats etc?

 

thanks for advice!

[Olly]

my laydees had their wings clipped by the Omlet delivery guy - I don't think there is any disadvantage as such. They can still flap quite large distances if need be, and make enough fuss to put the cat off. I am not sure any chicken, even one with unclipped wings, could outfly a fox in pursuit. It just stops them from actually taking off. That said, I haven't seen them unclipped, so I don't know how active they'd be.

 

observe them closely though - mine sneak under the Omlet netting, if it's not tight/pegged down they have a knack for getting through, you may find that's all it is!

[Eggheads]

Not sure how high your run is but I use the 4ft Omlet netting and our wing-clipped Miss Pepperpot can clear that without resorting to climbing on to the Eglu.

 

Luckily for us, as soon as she's escaped she starts pacing up and down the netting until we let her back into the netted off area,

 

I know this doesn't necessarily help but be warned that wing-clipping may not stop them escaping.

[Eggheads]

Another thing...

 

I've just been letting the girls out for a while while I pottered around in the garden and Gingernut, quite casually, stepped through the Eglu netting!!

 

This is the 2nd time she's done this - the first time was when she got in a flap when we tried to pick her up and she ran into the netting and got stuck. This required us to very gently push her right through the netting as she couldn't come backwards because of catching her feathers, This time she did it all on her own without being scared at all - she certainly doesn't look like she should fit through such a small hole but....

[AJuff]

We clipped our girls wings yesterday before their first taste of freedom. It wasn't hard to do following the Omlet advice. I was rather alarmed to hear that later on they had flown/jumped up onto the garden wall. One big jump and they could have been out onto a busy road. I'd hate to think of a hen causing an accident. We are now rethinking our free range area. Exactly how high should the fence/netting be to absolutely guarantee they will not escape whilst I'm out at work?

[beach chick]

ours do the pacing alongside the run thing too... silly birds! you can see them thinking "well, I got OUT ok..."

 

we've got the omlet 4' fencing, and it's pegged down in at least 1 if not 2 places between the poles, so cant do much there. they've got stuck in the netting when on the wrong side of it before (funny, they manage to poke their heads out for interesting bits of grass and pull them in ok from the right side!)

 

I think I'll just leave them to it, unless the weather improves and I've got no work, in which case I'll sit out there and study their escape techniques!!

[beach chick]

ha! just caught the minxy Tara - took off from a standing start, cleared the fencing in one mighty bound. luckily was out doing some weeding, so managed to catch her (and actually pick her up - first time ever!)

 

does anyone reckon wing clipping will keep them inside the omlet fencing? I am reluctant to give them the run of the garden because it's very big and virtually impossible to chicken-proof...

[Tina C]

Our girls have clipped wings but they can still fly over the netting when they want to.

 

Intially it was Cluck (Light Sussex hybrid) who was the main offender but she settled down once she started laying. Now its Chuckles (Bluebell), who likes to slip out for a scrabble under the hedge every afternoon. I always know she is out because Cluck makes a lot of noise to let me know.

 

Dusty, one of the ex-batts, can fly over if she gets a run up but she only does it when she sees me approaching with treats.

 

I don't worry too much as they are only out in the netting when I am around - and they all know where they live. Chuckles never strays far before I go out and put put her back. However, its a different story when Chuckles and Cluck are out together they mooch around the garden, then when we aren't looking they sneak out the front and round to our neighbours.

 

Because I know they can escape they always go back in their eglu runs when I go out.

 

I guess you have to work out what you are comfortable with, but don't rely on the omlet netting to restrain them.

[Hen Watch]

I have 3 Omlet girls with a clipped wing. They can all "hop" over the 3ft netting into my veg patch. Haven't got any omlet netting, so don't know if they could do 4ft clipped. My other unclipped girl can get up really high. I have only left her unclipped as she is at the bottom of the pecking order and still gets the ocassional peck from the others and she jumps out of their reach. I will consider clipping one of her wings at some point though. On the subject of cats, my 4 go ballistic if a cat comes in the garden and noisily see them off.