Do chicken beaks "molt"?

I noticed something weird going on with one of my chickens beaks. It looks like its growing another beak from the side of his beak lol but i guess its just molting? Its color is transparent.

funky...

Huh. Can you take a photo?
Does it peel? I know from an old owl skeleton I found a couple years ago that beaks are like finger nails in that they have layers. So a dead chicken beak peels. Not sure about a live one

If it's transparent you could clip it since it probably doesn't have any blood vessels, but unless it's bothering her, I wouldn't worry.

Araucana16 said:

Huh. Can you take a photo?
Does it peel? I know from an old owl skeleton I found a couple years ago that beaks are like finger nails in that they have layers. So a dead chicken beak peels. Not sure about a live one

If it's transparent you could clip it since it probably doesn't have any blood vessels, but unless it's bothering her, I wouldn't worry.

Click to expand...

Yep! He's camera shy so the pictures arent as great as i wanted them to be ;( but i hope you guys can still see it.

The little shedding part is happening on the right side of his beak :O he doesnt have a scissor beak

I'm having a sort of similar issue with my Ameraucana hen. Her beak started to separate and a week later the majority of the top layer kind of flaked off. She's not in pain nor is she bleeding so I'm not going nuts, but her beak is definitely weakened because she can't break certain foods anymore since this.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/834747/weird-beak-issue-need-some-advice

I think it's a diet issue, I'm still learning it but the comments on mine say to add more vitamin a and d and calcium to really strengthen the bones. I just read something as well that said it could take 9 - 12 months until the new beak grows.

brooklynbirds18 said:

I'm having a sort of similar issue with my Ameraucana hen. Her beak started to separate and a week later the majority of the top layer kind of flaked off. She's not in pain nor is she bleeding so I'm not going nuts, but her beak is definitely weakened because she can't break certain foods anymore since this.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/834747/weird-beak-issue-need-some-advice

I think it's a diet issue, I'm still learning it but the comments on mine say to add more vitamin a and d and calcium to really strengthen the bones. I just read something as well that said it could take 9 - 12 months until the new beak grows.

Click to expand...

wow that seems intense....my roo's beak wasnt so severe like your hen, and eventually it did flake off and his beak was fine. I have two eight week old chicks and eight 16-17 week old pullets. The 17-18 week ones are brutal and are bullies...they really like going for the 8 week old chick's beak(injuring the ee so bad that some parts of her beak was bleeding..and a little dent on my silkies beak). I really hope their beaks wont be severely damaged like that.. or the whole top beak just snapping offf..worst case scenario. I wouldnt know what to do! thanks for this post! =D

It's all good.. But yeah I'm just going to change her diet and add those essential vitamins she must be needing so hopefully by next year hers is grown back. Hope everything works out well for you

Hi everyone! I know I'm about seven years late to this thread, but one of my chickies is having beak trouble. Got three chickens back in February 2019. It is now January 2020 and I've noticed this "molting" thing happening to her beak. I first noticed because she was pecking at mealworms i dropped, but she wasn't managing to actually pick any of them up. I'm thinking she injured her beak and is now rejecting it like a broken toenail.

If you look at (A) in the photo you can see it's like the top layer of the beak is separating off. And if you look at (B) you can see the beak is stubby/broken off. (Other details: She has stopped laying eggs for two weeks now and she's losing feathers. We think this is because she hasn't been able to eat properly bc of her beak.)

We've moved Gert inside and we are feeding her ground up feed pellets and oyster shells mixed with a bit of water. She seems to be eating that with ease. We are planning to keep her in and feed her like this for a few weeks until she gets her strength back. Do you all think we have drawn the right conclusions? And any advice for how we should proceed? Thanks all!

@Wyorp Rock
@azygous