Suppose your chicken keeps trying to take off. In that case, clipping its wings is one of the ways that you can prevent this from happening. Clipping a chicken’s wings may seem inhumane, but it is necessary at times, and there is a way that you can do it painlessly. So how can you go about clipping your chicken’s wings, and when should it be done?
You must first identify the flight feathers to clip a chicken’s wings. Once that is done, you can use a pair of sharp scissors to cut the first 7 to 9 feathers. Generally, only one wing is clipped, but both can be clipped. A chicken’s wings should be clipped once a year as chickens molt.
Chicken generally stay in their coop most of the time; however, when you let them out, they usually take that as an opportunity to fly, but will clipping its wings prevent it from flying?
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Clipping Your Chicken’s Wings
First off, cutting a chicken’s flight feathers doesn’t make it impossible for it to fly. To enable the bird to fly level and, ideally, land safely, only a tiny portion of the primary flying feathers per wing should be removed. Here’s what you should do:
Ensure You Have The Right Tool To Clip The Chicken’s Wings
You want to ensure that you have the right tool to do the clipping. If you are wondering if you need any specific unique tool to clip your chicken’s wings, fear not, as it can just be an ordinary pair of scissors. Ensure that your pair of scissors are sharp as chicken wings are strong.
Identify The Chicken’s Flight Feathers That You Will Clip
First, you will want to pick up the chicken whose wings you want to clip and hold it on your lap. The next thing to do is to stretch out the chicken’s wings. Start by stretching one out first. You may be wondering why you need to do this, but the reason is that you need to locate the primary flight feathers.
If you’re unsure where the primary flight feathers are, fear not, as they are pretty easy to identify. They are the big ones on the front. The easiest way to see them is to stretch out the chicken’s wing to see the following line of smaller feathers directly above the flight feathers.
When your chicken’s wing is fully spread, you’ll also see a defining line of where the primary feathers begin and where the smaller feathers end. Locating the smaller feathers is essential as these will be used to guide you on where it will be safe for you to clip your chicken’s wings.
You will also notice that the smaller feathers are packed together tightly, whereas the primary, more prominent flight feathers are more spread out from each other. Another way that you can tell which feathers are the primary feathers, is to look at when your chicken flaps its wings.
You’ll notice that the primary feathers are the ones that enable the chicken to fly. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that by clipping the primary feathers, you’ll prevent your chicken from taking off.
Clip The Chicken’s Flight Feathers
When you do the actual cutting, you simply cut the primary flight feathers. The way to do this is to start cutting from the end of where the small feathers taper off to bigger feathers. Be careful that you’re not cutting the chicken’s bone. If you struggle a bit, don’t worry, as primary feathers are pretty tough. You also don’t need to worry about cutting too many of them off.
It is entirely painless when done right. For your chicken, it is equivalent to just going to a hairdresser for a bit of a trim. This is because a chicken’s wings are made of keratin, with no blood vessels. If you notice your chicken fussing, you are doing something wrong or cutting too close to the smaller feathers.
You also don’t have to cut both wings, as only clipping one side will do the job of unbalancing your chicken which will prevent it from flying off. You can clip a chicken’s wings yourself or ask someone else to help you. As a general rule of thumb, you should only cut the first 7 to 9 feathers.
Leave the rest as they are unlikely to create too much lift for your chicken. When a bird tries to fly after having too many of its primary flight feathers clipped, it will likely fall to the ground violently, possibly injuring itself, which is what you were attempting to avoid in the first place.
Clip The Chicken’s Wings Once A Year
The last thing that you should do is simply tuck your chicken’s wing back in place. Be aware that the chicken’s feathers will likely grow back as the chicken goes through a molt. Therefore, this will have to be a process that you do again.
When Should You Clip Your Chicken’s Wings?
If you are wondering when to clip your chicken’s wings, here is all the information you need. The first thing you want to ensure is that you only clip a chicken’s wings once they are mature or get to that point of almost being mature. The reason being you do not want to clip the wrong feathers.
You should also clip your chicken’s wing when they molt, which will usually be once a year. It’s also important to note that the easiest time of day to cut your chicken’s wings is at night. The reason is this is the time that they are on the roost, so they will be sleeping, and they will be still, so the chances of them moving, running, or fighting are slim.
Conclusion
Clipping a chicken’s wings is not meant to stop it from flying. Its purpose is to keep the bird from flying away and possibly harming or killing itself. If the flight feathers are clipped too much, the bird will likely crash dive once and risk hurting itself.
