How to clip chicken wings to stop flying + free PDF
Do you want to stop your chicken from breaking out? Read along to learn how to clip chicken wings to stop them from flying away and download my free PDF guide.
Why does clipping chicken wings help to stop chickens flying away
Chickens are birds and most of them can fly. They don’t fly in order to transport themselves for greater distances as other birds also due to their body weight wingspan ratio. They rather fly to get on higher trees to stay save from predators. By clipping one wing of your chicken you make it loose balance. Therefore it gets disabled to fly.
That already answers one question: you only need to clip one wing of your chicken. If you clip both wings, the balance is restored and your chicken will be able to fly again.
What else can I do to stop my chicken from flying?
Even if clipping certainly helps to stop your chicken from flying away it doesn’t completely enables it to move (luckily). Chickens have very strong legs (which some of us love to eat). They enable the chickens to jump up to 5 foot high using their wings to lift them up. Even if you clip your chickens wings it still will be able to jump high. There are more things you can do to prevent the chickens from escaping than only to clip the chicken wings.
Buy bigger chickens to prevent to clip chicken’s wings
One thing you can keep in mind is that smaller lighter chickens are much more likely to escape than bigger heavier chickens. Clipped or not, bigger chicken tend to have a more calm personality. I love big chickens because they are mostly easier to tame and they also look beautiful in my opinion.
Take good care of your chickens
I noticed that our chicken would only escape their coop if something was wrong. Once the water container leaked and they got thirsty. Guess what they did to look for water. Make sure that your chickens have enough food, water, greens and space. If they are happy they are so much less likely to break out.
Give them something to hide under
Chickens are actually predators. Did you ever see a chicken hunting mice? It sure is a funny sight. But they are also prey. They love to have some bushes to hide under for shadow and shelter. Make sure they feel save and have no need to escape to a safer place.
Build a closed chicken coop and don’t clip chicken’s wings
If you are able to fully close the chicken coop from all sides you are sure that your chickens will not fly away even if their wings are intact. I find it difficult to cover the chicken coop since your chicken coop is pretty large. If you only have a few chickens or you built a mobile chicken coop it might be a little smaller and actually possible to fully cover.
Choose a high fence
Some chickens can fly up to 30 feet high! A higher fence is no option there. But especially big heavy chickens wont be able to fly higher than 10 feet. Depending on your chickens it might be an option to build a really high fence.
Build a fence that is steep at the top
Chickens can as mentioned fly high up but not really horizontal. If you build a fence that is bend over at the top it might just prevent your chickens from flying over the fence.
Guard your gardens rather than your chickens
If you have a large property and you want to protect your vegetable garden from being destroyed you can choose to build a fence around the gardens rather than your chickens. In my experience the chickens are not that interested in the vegetables if they have plenty of room. Our chicken coop fence was really high whereas the fence around our gardens only needed to be 5 feet high in order to keep them out.
How high does my fence have to be when the chicken wings are clipped?
Even if you clip the wings of your chicken they still can jump and support themselves a little bit while flying. We once had a very calm chicken breed and only needed a 3 foot fence! Now as we have more variety among our chickens we do fine with a 7 foot fence.
Is it bad to clip chicken wings?
There is a lot of discussion around whether or not you should clip your chicken’s wings. Even if I am not here to defend one or the other point of ethics I want to ensure you that it is most certainly not painful to clip your chicken’s wings. As soon as the chickens are fully grown the blood stops supplying feathers. There are no nerves in feathers and therefore it can be done completely pain free.
How can I clip chicken wings at home safely – step by step guide
A chicken wing has four types of feathers. You want to make sure to clip the right one: the primary feathers. Follow the steps below in order to clip the chicken’s wings safely.
- Get help to hold the chicken
- Grab one wing carefully and expose the primary feathers.
- Determine the four different kinds of feathers: alula, primary feathers, secondary feathers and coverts.
- Clip the primary feathers at the hight of the covers. Leave the first two or three primary feathers in order to keep it looking pretty.
- Make sure to not touch the alula while clipping the feathers!
- Give your lovely chicken a hug and some well deserved grains.
If you are experienced and know how to clip chicken wings it will only take you a few minutes to do so. If it is your first time make sure to take enough time. Only clip if you are very certain that you got the right kind of feathers.
Good luck!
Will the feathers grow back?
Clipping chicken wings is a lot like clipping nails. Feathers will grow back. Once a year chickens and especially older chickens will loose their feathers and grow completely new ones. This is very much visible so you will not miss it. After that it can be possible that some of the feathers that you clipped regrew. Make sure to give them a trim again. in order to keep your chickens safely in the coop.
What do you need to raise chickens?
Read more on my blog on what you need to raise chickens when you are just getting started!
Do you have any tips to clip chicken wings? Let me know in the comments I would love to read all about it!
