The Christmas Spur Trimming was a Success!

Earlier this week, I blogged about a chicken chore I've been putting off for a long time...not trimming my Christmas tree, but trimming the three inch spur off my rooster named Maui. Since I held myself accountable for this task by posting about it, I put Maui at the top of my Christmas priority list this week.

My chickens HATE being held. Some of my fellow chicken bloggers have pet chickens in their homes wearing diapers or have chickens riding on their shoulders around the yard....but not me. My chickens prefer being near me by stepping on my feet or feeding out of my hand. They love me, but just not up close and personal.

The times I have to catch a chicken because of illness or to inspect an injury, it's quite a hilarious scene. Although chickens can't fly and are pretty slow (they can only run about 9 mph), they are super hard to catch. I always have my kids help me catch the chickens by quietly stalking it and get it separated from the rest of the flock. Because of a chicken's survival instinct, they instantly figure out when they are being cornered and they go crazy! They quickly hide underneath small crevices, flapping their wings making themselves harder to grab, make the loudest squawks alerting all the other chickens that they are being hunted. The other chickens, after hearing all the commotion, start squawking and flapping their wings too. Some of them even start attacking me when they know I'm trying to capture one of their flock. Oh What Fun!

In other words, catching any of my chickens is a super hard job to do successfully.

Roosters, the protectors of the flock, are even MORE tricky for me to catch, because they will try to peck my eyes out when I capture them. They are stronger than the hens, bigger, and have the abiity to maim and injure the thing that is attacking them. I've had so many roosters trying to attack me when I caught them, but thankfully no injuries to me yet.

Maui, my Christmas colored rooster

Maui is my favorite rooster of all time, doesn't he look like a beautiful, like a red and green Christmas Rooster? We have a good relationship, because he doesn't attack me and he is a wonderful protector for the flock. He treats his ladies with respect and kindness, and he has saved my flock from predator attacks several times. Trimming his spurs was a way to keep him safe and healthy so he can run faster, roost better, and do his "manly" duty without hurting his ladies with his sharp spurs.

Spurs before getting trimmed, see pointy tips.

Earlier this week, I took this picture of

Maui and his spurs. They were pointy and super long. Every time he walked, the pointy tips scratched his legs making him walk very slowly and carefully....a very easy mark for any predator. He wasn't leaving the coop and hardly moving because of his predicament.

After watching tons of YouTube videos, we found one guy called the Pretend Farmer (Love that name!) who uses a Dremel tool to trim his rooster's spurs every six months. My husband, Mike, did not like this idea. We thought Maui would hate the sound of the tool, causing him move around during the trimming, which would be dangerous for him and me (the person holding him down). After doing some research, we discovered that we needed to be careful not to knick a blood vessel in the spur, otherwise, Maui would have some serious bleeding issues.

Fishing Net

So, Plan B...we decided to use our dog's, who is a large yellow lab, nail trimmers. But before we got to the trimming, I had to put my "Big Girl" pants on, be brave, and catch Maui the dominant protector of the Squawk's Flock. After speaking with several chicken people about my inability to catch any of my chickens, one lady at Tractor Supply gave me some advice. Buy a fishing net.

Best Advice Ever!

Since getting my handy dandy fishing net several months ago, catching chickens has been a breeze and I can do the job independently without my kids. It took me only 10 minutes to capture Maui with my net instead of having an all afternoon chase with both of us getting frazzled.

Mike and I carefully wrapped Maui in a towel to keep him from moving around during the trimming. Although Maui did not enjoy this process, he was a gentleman throughout the entire process and did not fight or attack me during any part (Whewww!)....he's such a good boy! I placed Maui belly up on my lap so he could see me during the trimming. I sweet talked him the entire time, which I think calmed him down a bit.

Mike trimmed about a quarter of an inch of the spur, removing the pointy part. The dog trimmers worked like a charm cutting through the spur's bone-like structure and they were much more quiet than the Dremmel tool would have been. Even though I'm pretty sure Mike could have trimmed the spur a bit shorter without cutting the blood vessel, we just decided to trim again in the spring...trim a little bit of the spur at a time to avoid hurting Maui.

Maui after the trim, spurs are a little shorter and less pointy. He is much happier now!

The next day, Maui walked out to greet me in the middle of the yard (yay, he still loves me!), something he had not done in a long time because of his spurs. Removing the pointy part of the spur made him want to move around more. He could walk faster and forage for food easier. Because he is moving faster, it was harder to get a good quality picture of his spurs now, which is a very good thing.

Maui, Mike, and I are all much happier now since our tricky chore is done and over with. Next time Mike and I have to trim Maui, I won't be so apprehensive about it....we are old pros now, haha (yeah right)!

This is my last Squawk for 2025. I wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Talk to you soon in 2026 when I'll announce the title of my next book...

Thank you for reading my Country Squawk,

Kelly