Can anyone help with wing clipping - Somerset?

barleymo

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Hope you don't mind me asking, but is there anyone on here from Somerset who would be willing to come and show us exactly how to clip our hens wings before we let them free range? We're hoping to be able to let them out this weekend (into a secure electric fenced area) -weather permitting.

I know it's supposed to be a doddle to do, and we've watched videos and studied diagrams, but we're unashamedly nervous to do it without an expert on hand to guide us for the first time (hopefully we're not the only ones to have felt like this?).

We're 5 miles from Shepton Mallet, so please get in touch if you can help. We'll reimburse your petrol and give you a nice hot beverage and some lovely cake for your troubles :)

Thank you very much in advance.

Sam
 
I'm sorry I live too far away to help, where did you get them from? Maybe you could go back with one of them for a demonstration to give you confidence?
Also, I just wondered how you are picking up your hens? If held correctly they can be 'operated on' with no trouble or flapping or scratching, they will just settle down calmly so you can see what you are doing. Wing clipping is really only like toenail cutting, removing bits that have no feeling, and along with routine care like cutting their toenails now and then, and examining them for lice etc, is something that's much easier if you can hold them confidently.
Put your hand over the hens back, fingers pointing forwards down either side of her neck. Often she will crouch at this point, which helps. Slip your other hand under her tummy, fingers forward, and get hold of her legs, with one or two of your fingers between them to cushion them. Close your fingers so you have a firm hold on her legs. At the same time, lift her and get your other arm over her wings and support her weight. So long as you keep hold of her legs, she can't get way and she can't hurt you. Never try to lift a hen with your two hands over her wings, or she will panic and scratch you with her unrestrained feet as you pick her up. For wing clipping have somewhere to sit down with her, then it helps at this point if one person holds and soothes the hen whilst the other person extends one wing and has a calm look at the feathers. The videos you've been watching will have showed you which feathers to clip, and how much to take off. So long as the hen is calm and still, there's really no problem in actually giving her the 'haircut.'
However, it may not even be necessary to clip their wings, and it's not always very effective anyway. Many can fly out even with a wing clipped! What sort of hens are they? Many hens are too busy eating lovely grass to bother about flying out, although young birds and lighter breeds are more likely to get airborne. Once they've settled down and know their territory, ie your garden, they probably will stop trying, even the ones who did at first. In any case you won't need to do it more than once, as when they've settle down with you and get into lay they won't bother -unless they are Leghorns or Leghorn hybrids, who do go on flying out. I did clip my first hens, but haven't done so since because I found they had difficulty in shedding the feather stumps when the time came to moult them out and grow new ones.

P.S. Edit; I've just read your other post and remembered you have exbatts, so I would try just letting them out and observing them. At their age, and with their history, they are most unlikely to fly out of the netting circle, in fact it would be amazing if they did. Probably no problem!
 
As Marigold says wing clipping isn't always effective, if your electric fencing is the typical 4ft then I probably wouldn't bother as they will clear it if they want to wings clipped or not.
 
Hi Marigold and Dinosaw - thanks. We've had mixed messages regarding the effectiveness of wing clipping and whether or not to do it. Our girls are all 18 month old ex-batts - some have more feathers than others. Our fencing is 110cm high and we are surrounded by fields so if they did manage to get over it, then they wouldn't get hurt, but obviously I don't want a fox to get them. If you all think that we are probably safe to try without clipping then we'll have a go this weekend and see what happens - like you say, hopefully they'll be so amazed by all the grass and new sites and smells that they won't even think about flying!!

Here are a few pics (sorry not very good) of the hens when we first got them (nearly 2 weeks ago).


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Lovely photos :) . Looking at them I would say that unless they have feathered up significantly since the photos they won't be flying anywhere for the foreseeable future, they don't look to have much in the way of primary feathers which is what you would be clipping anyway. The electric fence should deter them from flying once they have had a few shocks to their combs as they will then be wary of it. What I would recommend is that you don't give them a reason to try to get out early days, by that I mean don't obviously be carrying treats etc outside of the enclosure which may lead to them trying to fly over to your side and make sure they have no raised platform from which to jump so make sure that their house isn't too close to the netting itself so that they can't jump up for the boost to get over. As I said in a recent post I kept a group of 6 hens within electric netting for close to 2 years and only had one bird who had any ideas of escaping and that tended to be when the netting lost current so hopefully you will be ok. I did clip the wings of my very first batch of chickens but found they could still jump 4ft with no problem.
 
Good advice there from Dinosaw, exbatts like yours need to do a lot of running around before their muscles are sufficiently developed for takeoff, let alone enough feather growth to keep them airborne. I put mine out within a non-electric circle of netting and the only one who flies out at all is my Brown Leghorn ( as you would expect) but then she stays close to the edge and doesn't leave the others who are still inside. I think she's just showing off. Of course if there was any danger to her from foxes I would have to do something about it, but the only danger in our garden is from her, to the flower beds! When she was younger I stretched butterfly netting over the top of the chicken netting circle and tied it down at intervals round the edges, so she couldn't fly out. This worked well but I don't know how it would be over an electrified fence.
Have they got any perches in their run? If so, do they fly up to them yet during the day? They would like at least one long perch, about 12-15 inches off the ground, where they can look out on the world and hang out together. Once they are strong enough to do this, and have realised what its for, they are well on the way to recovery.
 
Dear Barleymo,
Having started out with ex-batts myself, I'd agree with the others; flying hasn't been a problem with them & the only girl I've needed to clip was a Chalkhill Blue (a flighty legbar cross). As Marigold said though, I won't bother clipping her wing again after her next moult, as she doesn't try to fly any further than the top of the coop any more.

The key thing is to make sure that the hens will come back to you (e.g. when you rattle a container with corn in it) before you let them out of their run. Then you really don't need to worry about their trying to fly.
 
Icemaiden said:
The key thing is to make sure that the hens will come back to you (e.g. when you rattle a container with corn in it) before you let them out of their run. Then you really don't need to worry about their trying to fly.

Yes- so long as they are safe if they get outside their electric netting. It would be sad if a fox got one. See Eirwen's recent post 'Missing Hen.' But I don't think you need to worry about yours, Barleymow.
 
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