How to Clip a Chicken's Flight Feathers

Sometimes free range chickens grow bored of their run, and set their sights on greener pastures.  Can’t blame them I suppose, and depending on where you live this may not be that big of a deal. But if you’re tired of finding your hens foraging on the neighbors’ front lawn, you might try clipping their wings.

Trimming the flight feathers of your backyard flock can help keep them on the ground and safely at home...and you on good terms with the neighbors.

The standard wing clipping method involves using sharp shears to cut the first ten flight feathers from ONE WING, which causes a chicken to lose the balance needed for flight. Remember that new feathers will grow back during the next molt, which can be only a matter of months in younger birds, but as long as a year in older ones. The flight feathers are easy to differentiate because they’re usually a different color than surrounding feathers.

When you clip your flock’s wings, remember that some of the clipped feathers may not fall out on their own during the next molt, and you may need to help pull them out by hand.

Wing clipping doesn’t seem to bother chickens, and isn’t really noticeable because the flight feathers are hidden when the wing is folded.