[Clarebelle]

I don't clip my hens wings as I've never had a need. However, over the last few years my hens have gone from using the lowish perches I provided for them to using the rafters of the byre. This would be fine except I've had a few leg injuries this past year and I'm concerned it's caused by the hens flying down from the roof. If I clip their wings to discourage them perching so high will they still be able to reach the lower perches which are just over 1m high?

[Marches Farmer]

What breed are they?  Are they landing awkwardly or don't they have room to do so safely? 

[Clarebelle]

They are mixed breed, mostly red hens. I believe they have plenty of room, the byre is about 8m x 3m and the space inside is clear of obstacles. the floor is a traditional stone slab floor and I think some of them may just land awkwardly but are never able to heal because they are flying from that same height every day. They have lower perches and my oldest hen still roosts there but the rest insist on going to up in the rafters.

[Marches Farmer]

When you say mostly red hens are these Lohmanns, Warrens or similar?  If so, and particularly if you acquired them as growers or rescue hens, they may have had an accelerated growth rate which could lead to weak leg bones. 

[Clarebelle]

there's a bit of welsummer and black rock in there but they aren't from any pure strains. They are all home bred, mixture of ages. It's only this last year that I've had a problem but it's only this last year that they've been mostly roosting in the rafters. I wouldn't attribute it to any problem such as weak leg bones etc. I think it's just a long way down and landing on an unforgiving floor.

As I've never bothered to wing clip before I don't know if this will affect their ability to get up to a perch about 1m off the ground or not.

[Marches Farmer]

I've never done this but I have a neighbour who does it to prevent her Dorkings raiding the vegetable garden and it works very well.  For such heavy birds they're very good fliers.

[Dans]

We wing clip when we first get birds then the following year only if they are trouble makers at getting out!

We find it doesn't stop them from getting to their perches (maybe 0.5m) but does stop them flying up to the top of heras panels (~2m).

I remember reading that if perches are high they needs a more padded landing to stop bumblefoot, but I can't remember where I read that.

Dans

[Clarebelle]

I might just have to try it and see how they get on. It does make me wince a bit sometimes when they fly down from the rafters and land on the floor.

[SallyintNorth]

You couldn’t put a layer of straw, or other softer material, on the floor, could you?

[bj_cardiff]

Why don't you just take the top perches away? I find that they will jump from one perch to another to reach the highest, so clipping wings might not work, just make getting down harder..

[SallyintNorth]

The ‘top perches’ in question are the rafters of the barn!  Not sure it’d be a good plan to remove them...

[Clarebelle]

Yes, I'm afraid I can't take the rafters out! I could put straw down but it is a very large area and I think it would have to be pretty deep to do any good. Unfortunately straw and hay are really difficult to get hold of here so it's not really something I have a lot of available.

[Bonzie]

How about attaching some chicken wire to the under side of the rafters, would that work?

[Terry T]

We’ve wing clipped birds that want to escape and foind they are still capable of flying and perching 4-5’.
My last purchase was leghorn from a supplier prone to foxes. He wing clipped for me but only the first couple of feathers so they would still have a chance against a fox - you could try that?

[Clarebelle]

We’ve wing clipped birds that want to escape and foind they are still capable of flying and perching 4-5’.
My last purchase was leghorn from a supplier prone to foxes. He wing clipped for me but only the first couple of feathers so they would still have a chance against a fox - you could try that?

Thanks, they should be ok if they can still fly 4-5' up, foxes aren't a problem so don't need to worry about that