Recently our 12 week old Hi-Oak Brown hens have just been put out into a larger run with a lot more space to mill around. It’s a delight to finally see them out and about in their runs, but they seem to keep hopping the fence. So I’ve looked into clipping their wings. There’s a lot of debate about whether or not the wings should be clipped, but we came to the conclusion that it’s for their own safety with our local fox visiting nightly, we want our birds to stay inside the fence and not out for the fox to feast on.
I’ve googled how to clip a chickens’ wing for the novice like myself. My dad’s owns and runs the farm, but as he was on holiday when we moved the hens, it was up to me to get them back in the runs and keep them there. I only clipped one wing as it puts the hen off-balance as soon as they try to fly. I found it unnecessary to clip both.
I found the image below really helpful when it came to what to cut and what not to cut. We’re hoping to get a video done soon to show you guys how to clip them properly and give you a bit more information on the birds themselves.
