Keep Your Birds From Flying the Coop

I love raising animals and particularly enjoy keeping various types of poultry. However, there are moments when my feathery fowls frustrate me! Like when 4 month old youngsters continually fly the coop, pester the neighbors and refuse to cooperate? It’s time to deal with the problem. Because I know you either have or will face this frustration one day, I’m going to show you how you can keep your birds from flying the coop!

 

Snip, Snip, Snip!

One of the best ways to keep your birds in their pen is to trim the feathers on one wing. That’s right! Grab yourself a strong pair of scissors, hand-held pruning shears or even a pair of tin snips and head out the bird pen! Also be sure to grab a friend or family member. The task is much easier with two!

 

Trim One Wing

Catch your birds one at a time and trim the flight feathers on one wing. By trimming one wing only, their balance becomes disoriented, and it discourages them from any ‘flights of fancy!’

 

How Much Do I Take Off?

Because flying fowl also need to roost at night, you don’t want to take remove too much of their flight feathers! Snipping them off at the second set of overlapping feathers is usually a safe bet.

This leaves them enough wing power to fly up to their roost but discourages long, horizontal flights.

 

A Quick Video

Want a quick video reference? You can watch us trim the wings of our 4 months old turkey below. All you have to do is push play and enjoy!

 

Yes, it’s as easy as that! One by one, catch and trim one wing on every bird. And for most poultry, it will be enough to keep them at home!

In our experience with heritage turkeys, it takes about 4 months for the feathers to regrow. And then? Another clipping may be necessary.

But for the season, your birds will likely stay put.