How old do chickens need to be before you can clip their wings?

Answer 1

Of course its cruel. A bird is a symbol of freedom - the whole sky and earth are its playground - then someone imprisons it in a tiny box, 100,00000 times smaller than its natural environment.

I don't believe it is if the bird was bred in captivity with no knowledge of the wild. What would it do if it's released into a nonative environment but die? Also, if it's a bird like a cockatiel, as long as you let it out, it's fine with being put in a cage. The only thing that's cruel is if you deprive it of food, water, or any other comfort it needs.

Answer 2

If you clip one wing it's not cruel because then it can't fly up enough to fly into a fan or out the door (where if it's a pet it'll struggle in the wild) but it'll still have one wing to help it glide to the floor instead of crashing down (which is what happens if you clip both wings) when you clip one wing on a bird you're not actually hurting it because you don't cut the bones or anything it's just feathers you're cutting (birds sometimes scream when they get their wing cut because it doesn't know what you're doing but it's not actually in pain it's just protecting itself thinks it could be under attack) but if you have a pet bird without having one of its wings clipped you risk it flying into a fan. But it's best to let it grow back a bit before cutting it again and to sometimes change what wing it is that's clipped (because you don't want the bird to get use to it and learn how to fly up with a clipped wing because you don't want it to fly into a fan)

I love animals, I own 3 birds and do this for them, one of them is 9 years old, they're all very happy and I'd never hurt them. I also have certificate 2 in animal studies :) It's for their own good :) It's not cruel at all :)

Answer 3

Wing clipping is usually done soon after the flight feathers come in on the birds and that depends on the breed involved. This is often in and around 16 weeks old but can be as late as 24 weeks. Flight feather clipping is usually only done for free range and outdoor caged birds and is only temporary as these clipped feathers will grow back at the first molt.