No more "flying the coop"
We've been struggling with one of our hens, Rosebud, getting out of the 'barnyard' at least a few times per day. We've been postponing planting in the garden until we can be sure she is contained, away from any little seedlings. Luckily, she enjoys humans and as soon as we go outside she wanders over and hunkers down for a good scratch, so she is easy to pick up and put back with her flock. After several failed attempts at raising the height of fences and removing jumping off platforms, we decided we needed to try clipping her wings. The information and videos at Raising Happy Chickens were very helpful at putting our minds at ease about this process!
http://www.raising-happy-chickens.com/clipping-chicken-wings.html
So, today we got out the scissors and clipped her left flight feathers. It only took a few minutes and Rosebud seems perfectly fine! It was a lot like trimming the cats' claws - not their favourite thing, but all was back to 'normal' as soon as it was done. Except, hopefully, the escaping part!
