470 COMMERCIAL POULTRY RAISING 



body. The secondaries are the quill feathers that grow on the 

 second joint of the fowl's wing, which are visible when the wing 

 is closed, and which form the section known as the wing-bay. 

 Together with the primaries they constitute the main feathers 

 of the wing or the flying feathers. 



The ordinary way of clipping a fowl's wings is to clip off both 

 primaries and secondaries within a few inches of the fleshy por- 

 tion of the wings, and which always leaves a ragged, badly dis- 

 figured appearance, and seriously detracts from the bird's sleek- 

 ness. The practice is unnecessary and should be condemned. 



Clipping Without Disfiguration. — ^The following method is 

 equally effective in restraining high-fliers, and while it takes a 

 little more time to perform the operation, the results seem to 

 warrant the additional trouble: Take the bird under your arm, 

 or better still, sit down to the work and hold the fowl between 

 your knees; then spread the feathers of a wing wide open, and 

 with a pair of scissors clip the web or plumed portion of each 

 primary close to the shaft; but do not cut off the shaft and do 

 not strip the webs of the secondaries. Repeat the operation on 

 the other wing. 



When the fowl resumes its natural poise and the wings are 

 folded against its body, the clipped portions of the primaries 

 will be hidden from view by the secondaries, and it will take a 

 very acute observer to discover that the wings have been tam- 

 pered with at all. 



