[suziequeue]

My boy's spurs are damaging the hens now. I've just had one in sick bay with cuts and fitted her with a little canvas saddle but then noticed another of my good Marans sitting quietly and she has a big cut under her lef wing. I have dressed it with savlon cream and put her in isolation.


Any suggestions as to the best way to remove/clip his spurs?

[funkyfish]

You can't remove them completely, but you can blunt them by clipping a small part off with dog toe nail clippers and then filing them blunt. wearing saddles is the best way.


 Does he have enough ladies to 'entertain' or is he just picking his fav girls? You can keep them seperate physically - as in a run with in the run and rotate ladies round so they get a break.

[Marches Farmer]

Are you running a cockerel with the hens in order to produce hatching eggs?  If not, could you pen him separately and give them all a rest?

[gerpsych]

I had the same problem with my old cockerel. He had large spurs and was damaging his ladies quite severely. I used the way described on youtube and I've put the link below.

Get someone to hold the cockerel. I wrapped him in a towel. The grip the spur with a pair of pliers. Then press down and turn (a bit like taking the lid off a childproof medicine bottle) until you feel it give. The outer keratin sheath will come off leaving a much smaller (and less damaging) spur. Dust this to stop bleeding (it will ooze for a while). When I did it there seemed to be no appreciable distress to the cockerel.

Removing Rooster Spurs

[Mammyshaz]

I used the way described on youtube and I've put the link below

Removing Rooster Spurs

   OMG really! I think this is a bit OTT it is the equivalent of ripping  a finger/ toe nail clean off with pliers.
I'm sure clipping the spur back and filing as FF explains is much more appreciated by the cockerel.

[roddycm]

The best way is to wrap the legs up leaving just the spurs exposed, then getting a hot backed potato (microwaved works fine) put this on the spur for about 2 to 3 mins and then do the plier method. the outer layer comes off leaving a new smaller spur. there may be a tiny bit of blood although I had no blood at all and the old chap did not seem bothered at all.. he was back to business within a few minutes of being released. I had to do it as he actually damaged a cpl of hens so badly one day that one died! I would say not to leave it as it will only get worse!! Even when you cut them they will grow back!!

[shygirl]

id ask your vet for advice, im sure theres an acceptable way to trim them. its probably in the defra handbook for poultry.
we trimmed our cockeral's with dog claw trimmers on the morning of a show big mistake as it did bleed abit, even though we took only a little bit off.

[suziequeue]

I have to say that the cockerel in the video is remarkably unperturbed so I'll try that method.


I wonder why the baked potato works so well. Does the heat soften the outer keratin coat I wonder. 


I couldn't find anything about in of the .gov site or the poultry site. I expect for commercial chicken farmers cockerel spurs aren't an issue as they get slaughtered long before they are old enough to grow spurs 

[hughesy]

Why not go the whole hog and trim their beaks and cut their combs off. I can't believe anyone would actually tear off a bird's spurs with a pair of pliers.

[gerpsych]

I used the way described on youtube and I've put the link below

Removing Rooster Spurs

   OMG really! I think this is a bit OTT it is the equivalent of ripping  a finger/ toe nail clean off with pliers.
I'm sure clipping the spur back and filing as FF explains is much more appreciated by the cockerel.

I can understand the feeling that this seems possibly unpleasant, I too worried about this at first. However, my older cockerel had very badly damaged two of his girls and they all were developing lacerations on them. We increased the number of females available to him but it still happened. His spurs were very long and were split which I think was making them more damaging. I thought that this was an appropriate response and certainly with his shorter, smoother spurs he causes little or no damage to the females.

The spur itself is insensitive, it is the quick in the middle which is sensitive to pain. As long as you do not bend or twist the quick while you are doing this the cockerel will not be distressed.

My worry about clipping or filing is that the quick extends up to 2/3rds of the spur. If you clipped into this (or filed it) it would be very painful and also would bleed profusely as it is quite well supplied with blood vessels.

I haven't tried using the hot potato method. I can see that this may make removal easier by softening and loosening the spur. However, I was concerned that the cockerel has to be restrained a bit longer and the restraint is probably the worst thing from the cockerel's viewpoint. I also wondered if they may bleed a little more after heating as it might cause some local hyperaemia. Although the heating is supported in the poultrypedia site (see below) so I'd be keen to hear what people have found in doing this.

https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/home/rooster-spurs-trimming-and-removing

[roddycm]

Yup the heating softens the outer layer and supposedly curbs the bleeding. When i did it the was almost no blood at all, so for me it workerd! I havent tried any other way. The heat also apparently stops any possible pain, although of course he will complain about being held still.
In my case his spurs had already damaged one girl so badly she died (despite treatment). And my birds are totally free range so the fact that they could get away from him didnt help! It was his last chance I either shortenned his spurs or shorton his body by a head! I am very fond of this particular bird so i decided to go for the first option and it worked very well... Especially for him, he's still with his ladies and everyone is happy!

[Marches Farmer]

Again, I ask - if fertile eggs aren't wanted is it necessary to run the cockerel with the hens?

[gerpsych]

Again, I ask - if fertile eggs aren't wanted is it necessary to run the cockerel with the hens?

I have them because I want the fertilized eggs. However, to answer your question,  when the flock is free ranging they have other benefits as they act as a guard and defence. Ours sees off a local Goshawk and Kites. Additionally, in a thread here " (the benefts off having a cockerel with your hens ?http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=35562.15" many owners also think that they help flock behaviour and reduce fighting.

[suziequeue]

id ask your vet for advice, im sure theres an acceptable way to trim them. its probably in the defra handbook for poultry.

Couldn't find anything on the DEFRA Poultry Site (but it's a maze  ).

Mentioned it to vet and she suggested culling the cockerel. It probably will come to that in the end because he is so big and heavy now...... but I need to focus more on the cockerel management side of things anyway as we have some cockerels from this year's clutches.... and it would be good to have an older cockerel to manage them in future.

Anyway we de-spurred the cockerel as suggested using some pliers. He was remarkably calm. His feet are covered in blue spray now and he is in the san for 48hrs feasting on mealworms.

They were needle sharp and an inch long. Two of my good hens have died as a result of injuries sustained by these spurs so I have no qualms about clipping them back

[roddycm]

Do let us know how he recovers! Hope it all goes as well as it did for mine! Did you heat them first?