SueChick Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 Hi everyone. I am after a bit of advice please. We just picked up two beautiful hybrids from an Omlet recommended breeder who we have used before and they have settled in wonderfully (although still separated currently from our old ladies as a slow intro). Yesterday one of the newbies exhibited amazing flying capabilities of the likes I have never seen in 13 years of chicken keeping! She flew from ground level to land on my shoulder with absolutely no run up - literally a standing start! When we collected her I asked the farmer to clip their wings but he said they don’t do that anymore as they feel it is safer if the birds can fly away from a dangerous situation. Has anyone heard that before? I hadn’t. I didn’t think much of it because I have other birds without clipped wings, but now am regretting not pushing the matter because I am now really stressed about her free ranging in the garden and losing her over into next door’s garden who has a big dog. Also, although my little dog is separated from the hen area I think our flying lady will clear those fences too and get chased and stressed by our dog. So I am in desperate need of some help please with wing clipping as I have never done it and am terrified of the idea! Is there anyone in here near enough to us (Walderslade in Chatham) who would be happy to pop over and help us? Happy to pay for services in petrol money and/or homemade cakes! Thanks in advance everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 My Leentje used to fly up onto my shoulder in one go too. Wing clipping is really easy. As you have a dog, you must have dog nail clippers? This makes clipping the wings a breeze. I find that scissors tend to slip in the round feathers. Stretch one wing on the bird and clip longer feathers on the end the same length as the short feathers. I would do at the very least 5 feathers, but often leave the two feathers on the tip of the wing. When the wing is folded, it makes it less obvious that the wing is clipped. Here is video of Lewis, showing how to clip the wings of a chicken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beantree Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 We don't clip wing feathers anymore because flight capability is required if there is a predator attack, but in your case SueChick flight is the danger, so you have no choice. You may find that once they start to lay, having eaten far more and carrying developing eggs, they stop flying due to the extra weight. But I think this year you will have to do it. We were given two with wing(s) clipped because they were flyers, but they have feathered up after the moult but have lost the wish to fly. Mistake usually made is to clip both wings, because the idea is simply to destabilise them. Good idea to leave the two end primaries on as it does look far neater, but we've had them in the past where they could still fly up so had some of the secondaries clipped as well. Start with the primaries and see what happens. The two aforementioned had primaries and secondaries clipped on both wings, the stubs of which cut me badly when I picked them up; they did look a real mess poor things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 They're usually most flighty as pullets as they're not yet used to people and fairly lightweight. Once they start laying they'll chunk up a bit, eat and drink more and tend to settle down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patricia W Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 Is she white? White hens seem to be more flighty. My Madonna is white. No end of wing clipping worked with her so I’m afraid she’s now confined! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajm200 Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 (edited) Hybrids are less capable of flight as they get bigger. They end up fairly heavy and manage an ungainly glide with lots of flapping. Our smallest hybrid could manage a long glide if she started from a height but would lose height all the time. We clipped the wings on our first 5 Omlet girls bought with the cube as one could get into the cube roof and from there onto the fence where she’d scare the magpies before flapping back down but she quickly outgrew it. We never bothered clipping again. The current bantams can gain quite a height from a standing start and have been 4ft up a bay tree. They are far faster on the wing than on foot and need that to avoid predators. We had a large cat in the garden recently and they managed the length of out 109ft ft garden very quickly to get to me. Not much height though. I’d only clip if your fences are lower than 6ft. Only do one side to throw them off balance. Lacking experience, we clipped both on our first lot and one got used to clipped wings. She could still get over the Omlet netting from a standing start Edited March 10, 2019 by ajm200 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SueChick Posted March 10, 2019 Author Share Posted March 10, 2019 Thanks everyone for your great advice. No she’s not white - I have purposely avoided white hybrids with Leghorns in them because I know they can be very flighty and our garden just doesn’t suit that. I have never had to re-cut after a moult either so it should only be when they are young thank goodness. I appreciate all the advice and have also watched lots of YouTube videos as well so hopefully we are good to go today! Wish us luck!! Shes the lady on the left - named Fred by my 19 year old son who likes buck trends and name all of his hens male names! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SueChick Posted March 10, 2019 Author Share Posted March 10, 2019 Yay all done! I held them and hubby cut and it wasn’t too tramatic thank goodness! Thanks for all of your help xxx 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
