I know some of my readers are chicken owners. I have a question for you experts out there. Did you clip your chickens wings?
I went down to the basement this afternoon and found a bird on the garage floor! I have the brooder 3/4 covered but there is about 6" gap. Apparently that little girl flew right out that opening. They have been flapping their wings and jumping around all week. I read this would start around 2 weeks of age. My girls are almost 3 weeks old. Needless to say the top of the brooder is now completely covered!
Some people have told me to clip their wings but I was wondering if any of you have done this? Thanks for the advise.
We used to cut our chickens wings. Or yes indeed they will "fly the coop" lol. Another little tip, we fed them oyster shells to strengthen there egg shells. We gave them all our scraps, to include egg shells. They ate everything. At the time I hated them. I was 13 and has 100 other things I would rather do then feed chickens. I sure wish I could have them now. We are a Army family in Germany...so Im not sure how well that would work, although Im sure my cat would love it! As far as clipping the wings, I would ask someone to show you, or google it. Its really not hard, its like clipping dog nails. Enjoy your chickeys :)
ReplyDeleteWe have had hens for 3 years and have never clipped their wings. We have an occasional escapee, but as they get older their flocks become more cohesive and ours truly have no real desire to leave their yard...unlike when they were very young and felt compelled to explore the world outside of the brooder. ;-) When one of the girls does fly out of the hen yard now, which happens very rarely, she generally comes back quickly, missing her sisters.
ReplyDeleteNo need to clip wings. Our flock flutters around the yard when we let them out of their run, but as the above poster said, they want to stick together and have no desire to "fly the coop."
ReplyDeleteOk, thanks for the input. I think I will wait for now on clipping their wings. We will see how they act once they get more room. Their house is almost finished!
ReplyDelete