Chicken Coop Cam
I discovered rather suddenly that it’s sometimes necessary to trim a chicken’s wings so they can’t fly. We’d had Golden Buff hens for awhile when I decided to introduce a Barred Rock rooster, and because the hens never flew out of their pen, I was shocked when the rooster flew out (why a rooster would fly away from hens is explained in Introducing New Chickens). I had to clip his feathers to keep him in, and found out it’s a harmless and simple procedure.
Why (Not) to Clip Feathers
I think it’s best to leave the chicken’s wings alone unless there’s a problem, such as getting out of the pen, or flying into the neighbor’s garden. That’s because flying is the bird’s only defense. It can attempt to fly away from a predator, and depriving it of this ability is a health hazard. There’s also the possibility of hurting the bird while trimming the wings. So, consider clipping only after you’ve exhausted all other options. In my case, after the rooster molts, I won’t clip his feathers again, and the Golden Buffs have never been clipped.
When to Clip
If you decide it has to be done, then it’s important to wait until the bird can fly pretty well (I know, that’s why you want to clip in the first place). Brief flights develop young bird’s muscles, coordination, and balance; so it’s best to wait until a bird can fly short distances. If you want to maintain the clipped wings, then it needs to be done annually, after the bird molts and the new feathers have grown back.
What to Clip
Some guides recommend clipping only one wing thereby leaving the bird unbalanced and unable to fly straight. This seems harsh to me, and I clip both wings so the chicken can’t fly but is still balanced. What you really do when “clipping the wings” is trim about a third off the tips of the primary flight feathers. To help identify the primary flight feathers, I should have taken pictures before and after trimming our rooster, but I didn’t think that far. So here is a picture of a hen with her primary flight feathers intact:
The long flight feathers on the trailing edge of the wing are what’s trimmed. You remove more length from the longer feathers at the tip of the wing and less where the wing attaches to the body, but you do trim the entire edge of feathers. Cut these to just under the next layer of feathers on the wing. This prevents the cut edges of the flight feathers from irritating the bird’s skin. The trimming can be done in stages or one cut.
How to Clip
To clip the feathers, you need a sturdy pair of scissors or sheers with rounded tips (you don’t want to accidentally puncture something). Also, I wouldn’t do this without help. You need one person to hold the chicken, while the other person extends the bird’s wing and trims. Just extend the wing out fully from the bird, and trim that first row of feathers. It’s better to take too little than too much, and you should never be cutting a feather shaft that has blood in it (it will appear pinkish).
Here’s a picture of a hen with her primary flight feathers trimmed:
That’s it for clipping a chicken’s wings, your chicken is now grounded!
We clipped both wings on our flock recently, now we are told we should have only clipped one wing on each chicken. Which way is right? Our girls were flying over a four foot fence. Can you answer through my e-mail?
thank you,
Nancy J
Nancy – I’m not sure that there’s a “right” way – some swear by clipping both wings, and others by clipping only one wing. We’ve always clipped both wings and it’s worked well for our chickens. They’ve never flown over their fence (it’s also four feet) after being clipped. Clipping only one wing causes the chicken to be more unbalanced, but they apparently adjust just fine.
All of my birds still got out. Does not work, worse now my birds are out with out being able to fly. Yes did exactly what the website said.
Sarah, the objective of clipping the birds wings is to prevent them from flying – so if they can’t fly now, it worked. Clipping their wings so they can’t fly well may not prevent them from getting out though – it all depends on what’s keeping them in.
I [believe I] have a Brabanter rooster and his crest has become quite long and is now drooping to one side. He’s begun to walk sideways since he can only see out of one eye and I was wondering if it would be safe to trim those feathers. He’s pretty calm while I hold him and loves when I massage his crest so I don’t think it’d be an issue but I’d like y’alls advice. Thank you!
It should be fine to trim his crest a bit so he can see, many folks with crested birds do it. The thing is just be very careful when doing it so no accidents happen with the scissors or cutting tool. Have someone hold his head so he can’t jerk suddenly, and maybe use scissors with blunt ends, etc. I’m sure he’ll appreciate the better sight!
Thanks! We raise rabbits and recently purchased some rhode island reds and some black sexlinks and we are going to let them loose in the barn with the rabbits (which has a 18 x 36 ft area with 4 ft tall chainlink) so they can keep the bugs out and if they get ontop the cages the rabbits can get coccidia and die so we need to trim the flight feathers so they wont fly up there.
New to this whole “chicken” thing. We got 6 chicks about 7 weeks ago. I’m just looking for information on WHEN I can trim their flight wings. I know you said “wait until they can fly short distances” but how short is short? They are struggling to get 2′ out of their flights but don’t want them getting out of the yard. I guess I can trim them now but will I have to do it again in the next month?
Thanks.
Hi Brian,
If the chicks you have are only about 8 weeks old, then I would wait a lot longer before clipping their wings – I might start thinking about it at 16 or 18 weeks depending upon what breed they are. They need to develop their muscles as they grow, and as they get heavier, they are actually less able to make “high” flights than when they are small. What breed of birds are they, and what do you have that will be keeping them in the yard?
Whatever you do, do not clip any feathers that still have blood in the shaft (the shafts should be clear not red)- I’ve never clipped wings of birds that young and they may still have blood in the shafts at that age. If you clip a shaft that still has blood in it, the bird could bleed to death unless you stop the bleeding from that shaft.
Bottom line, if those chicks are only about 8 weeks old, I think they’re too young for wing clipping.
I’m not an advocate for clipping the wings unless it’s absolutely necessary, and I’ve found that it’s often not. We have a 4′ high fence around ours, and although they are technically able to fly over the fence, they never do.
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I WANT TO CLIP THE WINGS SO THEY WON’T COME IN MY 4′ FENCED YARD. THEY GO THRU THE BOARDS NOW, SO I WILL PUT 2′ TALL CHICKEN WIRE AROUND THE BASE OF THE FENCE. SO I HOPE THEY WON’T BE ABLE TO JUMP UP TO THE 4′ TOP. MY QUESTION/CONCERN IS THIS. WILL THEY STILL BE ABLE TO JUMP UP TO THEIR ROOST INSIDE THEIR CHICKEN COOP. IT IS VERY SECURE FOR THEM AT NIGHT. THEIR LAYING NEST IS PRETTY CLOSE TO THE PVC PIPE WHERE THEY ROOST,SO WILL THEY BE ABLE TO GET UP THERE MAYBE IN TWO JUMPS, AND WILL THEY BE ABLE TO BALANCE THEMSELVES IF I JUST CLIP ONE WING? WHEW. I NEED HELP WITH ALL OF THIS. THANKS.
Hi Sharla,
Ours could still jump up on their roost set-up; which is a roost at about a foot high and then a second one at about 2 foot high. They would jump up to the foot high one and then up to the 2 foot high one – never seemed to be any problem.
As far as balancing if you clip just one wing – I always trimmed both wings so they would be balanced, so I don’t know how badly having just one wing clipped affects their balance.
thanks alot! we got advice from a friend and we cut too little and the rooster is still escaping! Gonna try this as soon as i get home! Thanks again….i HATE loosing my chicken!!!
Thanks so much. I have 22 hens all i got in the spring. So they r big girls now. And for some unknown reason they keep flying out of there coop. And i lost 1 to a neighbors dog. So i have to clip there wings now. Thanks again for the pic’s of how to accomplish this,hope it helps.
It so upsetting to lose a chicken, so I hope the clipping keeps them closer to home too!
Thanks for the information! I am having a problem keeping my babies in the electric net, since they are big kids now. Did all of yours go from red to speckled when you cut their wings? Just a temporary side effect I suppose.. :O) thanks again!
Yes, they all went from red to speckled, but the side effect happens so quickly you have to be really quick with the camera.
Don’t they go from babies to big kids just overnight? Glad it helped out.
thank you so much for your info we have an anacauna that will not stay in the coop your info is so valuable to us again thank you ragdoll
Glad the information helped!