We decided to add two new hens to our existing flock of four. Life has now changed dramatically and we have gone from peace and harmony to all out war. I knew there would be trouble initially and it has begun to calm down a little and no blood has been spilt thank goodness. The main problem is that the two new ones seem to be very good flyers and keep flying over the fence to get away from the others. Should we clip their wings? I really don't want to, but I also don't want them flying away all the time otherwise they will never learn to live with each other. What should we do?
Flying hens - advice please
- Thread starter Anni D
- Start date
rick
Active member
Hi AnniD,
I'd try a length of string like a washing line just in front of the fence at the top. They will try a couple of times but will quickly give up when fail to.land on on the fence. I clipped mine and its taken a sever moult for one to get her flight feathers (and her proper looks) back. Admittedly there are neater ways of doing it than mine at the time.
I'd try a length of string like a washing line just in front of the fence at the top. They will try a couple of times but will quickly give up when fail to.land on on the fence. I clipped mine and its taken a sever moult for one to get her flight feathers (and her proper looks) back. Admittedly there are neater ways of doing it than mine at the time.
Good suggestion from Rick there. Last time I had young flighty pullets I put them inside a circle of netting on the grass and tied butterfly netting to the posts over the top, and they just bounced back, it was quite funny to watch. You will find they calm down once they've integrated properly and also started to lay. Young pullets often try to explore but soon come to realise the limits of the territory held by the flock. Yes I agree about avoiding wing clipping - it's not very effective at best, and sometimes the clipped feather stumps don't seem to be moulted properly when the time comes. Feathers won't grow back until they're moulted out and that time will be months away for this year's young pullets.
