Thursday 18 September 2014

Trimming Rooster Spurs

Our Rooster 'Big Red' has recently had a pedicure.  It had been a long time since we had trimmed his spurs and they had become a problem as had injured a couple of our hens.

Each of his spurs were about 2.5 inches long and  the last time they were trimmed we used a pair of sharp secateurs and it was not that easy, those spurs were tough.
So this time I had a chat to a fried about how they dealt with rooster spurs and she suggested we us an angle grinder.  Of course why didn't I think of that.
The benefits of and angle grinder are that 1) It is fast 2) It requires very little pressure to be applied therefore the rooster does not try and pull his leg away 3) The cut is very clean 4) You can smooth of any rough edges
5) It is easy

So here is the before photo, just look at that spur.  Yes we are very bad chicken owners to let them get that long.


And here is the after photo (sorry it is blurry Hubby got too close, unless he was trying to photograph the grass in the background) and you will see a tiny little pink spot in the middle which is the blood supply.


We left the spurs about 2 cm long as we were not sure how far down the blood supply went but it did not bleed at all.  I held Big Red and Hubby had both spurs off in about 30 seconds each including smoothing off all the edges.  Big Red did not even move during the process and was straight back to his girls like nothing had happened. But I am glad it was quick as boy is he heavy.  He is a 5 year old New Hampshire and at a guess he weighs about 6kg.

How do you deal with rooster spurs?

3 comments:

  1. Very Clever, im surprised the sound didnt make the rooster didnt flip out.

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    1. Lynda he was not bothered at all. I thought he might be worried too but he was completely calm. However I have noticed that chickens are often quite calm when being held as long as they feel supported.

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  2. wow those were LONG! glad you finally trimmed them :)

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