Well, as my title states! I have mentioned in several prev. posts my chickens backs have been looking ratty. I have checked them over multiple times for mites, lice, ect. I have failed to see any feather picking among them, but that doesnt mean it isnt happening! I have increased protein in their diets, ect. So today I saw the rooster trying to grab onto one of the hens, and he has not been nice about it lately. I have seen him leap off of something off the ground to jump on the hens! He chases them around and grabs them with his feet. So today I got mad watching him go after this poor picked on hen. I went and grabbed him and had him hanging by his feet and saw how big his spurs are. I had never looked at his feet before and didnt realize that the spur was a huge claw. I thought it was a toe with nail like his feet. This thing is like a horn. I am never going to be able to use nail clippers or animal nail clippers on these things. I decided to see if I could trim his nails with a clipper to at least get the edges off for now. They bled everywhere. I guess because I have waited so long, the quik is very long. I dont have a dremel to grind them down, and I have read that some people just snap them off? Is that even possible? These things are easily a half inch thick. Sugestions would be great! Thanks as always.
Holy Rooster Spurs!
Hi
Use either a pair of dog nail clippers or a Dremel tool with a stone. I dremeled down one of roos nails and it never bled. I have a couple of bare back hens myself from my robust roo. It seems that his "favs" are bald and the other gals aren't.
A nail quick (the blood supply) can be easily stopped by stuffing flour or cornstarch into the nail itself. Think of a tube with a blood supply and you clip the vein so plug it up by stuffing it full of flour or cornstarch, just really push it in there.
Using a demel tool cotorizing (*sp Cot-tour-izing) the blood supply by burning it so it stops. You are welcome to dmail or regular to ask what stone I use
I think they "twist" them off somehow. I was reading how to do it to "rejuvenate" a roo for showing. See if I can find it. Other people here have described doing it. Other people?
wasn't their something about a hot potato? like you could get a hot potato onto the spur LOL...
my hens are looking ratty too, may need to take the same measures. although a friend of mine keeps promising to make those saddle thingys...
This one made my day, you can brek off the spur, or twist it off, but to do so would be like doing the same thing to your finger. to break or twist it off, ( unless it is already detatching somewher down by the point, and will sometimes shuck off like the stem on tall grass leaving another new sharp spur.) would 1 be painfull, 2 be a bloody mess, and 3 be permanant and leave him defenceless. the easiest way to solve this problem is with a bar of soap and a hacksaw, if you have no dremmel. slide the blabe through the soap a few times, and simply cut through the spur about the width if a nickle- 5/8" from his leg, the soap keeps the blade from binding, as well as stops the bleeding, do the same to other side, and you are good for atleast a year. I have to do more than 100 a year, a dremmel, or even a bench grinder is better, and easier, and there is absolutly no blood if done right.
Okay, I found the part about removing the spur in Damerow's "Storey's A Guide to Raising Chickens". There is permanent removal--"cut spurs off close to the leg when cockerels are 10 to 16 weeks old and their spurs are no more than 1/4 inch long. Rub potassium hydroxide into the wound to prevent hemorrhaging and to destroy spur tissue so the spur can't grow back."
Then she describes trimming the spur of mature cocks using dog nail clippers etc--just like a dog you want to avoid the quick and start bleeding.
Then she describes "twisting off the spurs" every couple years to rejuvinate an old show cock--warning you should only do this after being shown how by an experienced person. " Do not attempt to break off a spur, or you may damage the tender new growth underneath, causing serious bleeding. To twist off a spur, first apply oil liberally to soften the junction between the spur and leg. Twist the hard spur back and forth on its axis, applying more oil as necessary until the spur comes loose. Confine the cock alone for a few days unti the freshly exposed soft tissue hardens."
So I think the twisting is purely cosmetic. Sounds awful!
Thanks for the advice. Still havent done this yet! Every weekend I say I'm going to take care of the rooster's spurs, and I get busy doing something else. Man is he being a real dink lately. He been grabbing the chickens by their heads and chasing them! I got so mad the other day and grabbed him, picked him up and carried him around for about a half hour around the yard, to get the mail, ect. Was hoping to humiliate him a little. Should have just put a dress on him!
That is absolultly fasinating info, not so much practicle in real world, but possible none the less. a spur trimmed with dog clippers will be sharp again in 2-3 weeks, I have broke off "piggy back" spurs in this manner,(twisting them off") spurs that are thin somewhere in the middle, and always on older cocks, over 7-8 yrs old that had not been cared for properly before I got them, ( or they would not have big, long spurs obviously) but there is a new sharp spur under there, and as far as reguvenating spurs for the show, all I have ever been to require that the spurs be cut off, ( no sharp points) I have several cocks here that have a spur missing, what comes off at the leg, dont come back. I am not saying the book is wrong, only that in the 20 yrs I have had fowl, and untill 3 years ago I had 3 to 4 hundred a yr with 3/4 being male, I now have less than 100, 21 different families, I did have 40 or so diff families I have never seen a hulled spur grow back. What I am talking about is opinion based on hands on, anything could be possible though. I am not trying to offend, or step on toes, I am new here, actually getting out of fowl( though I will keep a few for the shows) and have started a nursery, but I thought another opinion couldnt hurt anyone, and that is all it is, an opinion
Well, I have absolutely no experience with removing spurs--or even trimming them. Damerow usually knows what she is talking about, but note--she advises people not to just jump in and try it on their own. I think it is just to improve the appearance of a show cock whose spurs are looking a little "old". So your observation that there is another one underneath matches Damerows comments.
Maybe people who have had it with "naughty Buff Orpington roos" should threaten them complete removal while they are young.:0)
If I ever have another "naughty Buff Orpington roos", you can believe I will be removing its spurs when it is young. Then maybe I wouldn't have to remove its head when it gets older. LOL
GG
^_^
LOL Granny : )
nc, very interesting, always goo dto have experinece along with bvook knowledge. wish i lived near you i would take some extra off your hands LOL
i have a two year old Buckeye with ENORMOUS spurs. he is my Best Baby, and he free ranges, so you can bet i wouldn't dream of shortening them. so for the fair this year, do they need a trim or polish? He is exquisite, won Reserve in Class [the one that beat him was later killed, and it was a fraction of a difference], so i want hi to have a good opp to win again this year...
also i have a Jersey Giant [black] roo about a year and a half old whom i reently acquired.... his spurs had been permanently removed and i was wondering how? of course he can still fight with his claws and beak, so i keep reminding him who owns the hens and the eggs...
tf
TamaraFaye,if you lived closer, i could load you up with pullets in the spring. I unload them by the dozen. maybe next year, I could ship you some. I ship fowl all over the US. NPIP ( National Poultry Improvement Program) participant!
You have never been diqualified for long spurs in the shows, or have you just shown in the fairs?
His spurs weren't as long in 2006 as a cockerel. This year he'll be in the roo group in American Class. It is the fair, but it is an ABA sanctioned show. they just let the large fowl in to be nice LOL. so should i talk to someone in the club and ask about thsoe spurs? I was planning on entering a dispaly of seven Buckeyes...
Glad to know you are still hatching and shipping. i would always prefer breeders to hatcheries... i will dmail you.
tf
Yes I recomend you talk to someone involved in the show, so there are no surprises later. You really need to know the standard for the fowl that you are showing, and the requirements of such things. some shows only require that they have no point, others that they are trimmed back about 5/8 from leg. ( be kind the judges have to pick up, inspect, and release alot of fowl in a day, two or three frisky ones and thier hands would be shredded) Not a happy judge the rest of the day.
very good point. but my guy is so gentle... i call and ask... thanks!
but all are not thats why thy have regs, and rules