do wings need to be clipped yearly? escapee hen advice

[angelat]

hi all,
can someone tell me if chickens wings need to be clipped yearly? my very curious rescue hen who we got a year ago ( i got wing clipped when we got her) has suddenly taken to trying to climb over our six foot fence onto my neighbours new summerhouse!!! the family witnessed her jumping onto the back of my garden bench and then flying onto the fence and then jumping onto the summerhouse roof at the weekend, she then proceeded to sashay like on catwalk all down the length of the six foot fence picking berries as she went! i finally got her back into my garden with a broom.
my neighbour this evening has told me he saw her on the summerhouse roof again the other morning, he is so nice and was more worried about her jumping over the big fence towards the road at back so he wasnt moaning just concerned for her safety. thank god he bird watches for a hobby. as they are habit forming creatures i have moved the bench away from the fence and put a broom up against the fence to deter her attempting again. when i phoned the poultry centre where her wings were clipped last time the lady said has she moulted as the wings could have grown since but i havent seen her moult? im thinking a visit to the poultry centre at wkend.

[Scarlet]

It does indeed sound like she is enjoying her new set of primary feathers! You need to clip them after each moult. One wing only.

How To Clip & Trim The Wings Of Your Chicken To Prevent Flight - BackYard Chickens Community

[chris]

If you take all the primary's off, it'll really unbalance them - I used to keep large birds and left the first 2/3 primaries intact for aesthetics - I've noticed with chickens though - it doesn't hardly make a difference if you leave them on - so, since I had one go over my fence onto a road, I take them all off now.

[Two_Sheds]

Oh yes, the wing clip.

My chicken (!) grew her full set of feathers in this summer. She then proceeded to fly into windows, quite a lot. To save her a broken neck/beak, I've now clipped her again.

It doesn't disable her completely, it just makes her feel unbalanced, so that she isn't tempted to try and fly into windows. If she managed to get outside, with cats & traffic, I'd lose her.

It's the same with hens: take off the ends of a few primary feathers so they can't achieve height/full flight.

[Feral007]

Our new rooster has been half wing cllipped and he did look a right dork when he tried to fly over the wire in the doorway...........he could really have just stepped over! Lucky the girls weren't looking. When he fell he just lay in the dirt with one wing out looking like he meant to do that?

Glad to know I don't need to do his wing again till next year. The girls are wing intact, but they are free ranging and happy to return home at night...........oh and it gives them a bit of an advantage when One Wing tries to hump them

[jessmorris]

My Russian orloffs are always trying to 'defect' over the Heras fencing..as shows are over for this year (for them anyway) I have started wing clipping them, and will remove another cockerel to reduce stress. They are good fliers, probably because they are so leggy and muscular! ))

[Glutton4...]

That reminds me. Mine are just finishing their moult (I hope) and egg numbers are back up. I was missing one the other day; she was next door, and desperate to get back home, as they were out, and I was throwing corn! In the end, she hopped up on their compost bin nest to the fence, and let me pick her up. She hasn't bothered since, but I'd best clip them anyway if they're getting adventurous.