Hooked Beak??

My 2-month old Silkie, Emma, is much smaller than other chicks who are even younger than she. I thought she was made that way. But then when I was watching her pecking at food, I realized that she just pecks and not actually eating. Other chicks open their mouths and actually eating, but I noticed much food is not going into Emma's mouth. Then suddenly I snapped. Her upper beak is somewhat hooked, looks like the one hawks and eagles have.





For this she wasn't eating well and she wasn't growing up? She has been always hungry? I feel terrible and very sad that I didn't notice until she is 2 months old.




So I would like to use a Dremel tool that I use to file my dogs' nails, but here is my dilemma. I hear Silkies is a quite fragile breed and their skulls or necks will not be totally developed. Therefore, if I hold down Emma trying to file down her beak, it may cause trauma and I am afraid of hurting her that way.

Should I or should I not? Should I wait just a little longer until she gets bigger, but her beak will also toughen up. Any advise is appreciated.

She was having a "pasty butt" issue, so I clean her butt every day and give her yogurt. Since about a week ago, I mixed mealworms and she is eating aggressively. Then I noticed about her beak at that point. I think she doubled the size since I started giving her worms as well.

Tomomi - very new to raising chicks, first-time owner of Silkies

I dont know much about hens with hoocked beaks but beaks like that are for meat.

Do you mean that the hooked beak chickens are typically roosters? Or do you mean that they should be bred for meat?

I hope it is a hen and I hope to keep her (him) as a pet though.

You might want to give it some time before you go taking a drill to a chicks beak as you can very easily deform him/her for life but if you have to or feel you need to use a file and remove a little at a time ...

As you mentioned, I don't want to harm the delicate Silkie by trying to help and only goes to the wrong direction. Also, I was afraid the noise from Dremel tool may scare her.

We plan to move the flock outside this weekend. When she goes outside, she may be able to file her beak on her own with dirt and rocks and all. When I give her yogurt, I guess the clump of yogurt sticking to her beaks bothers her, she rubs her beaks on the floor which is newspapers and pine shavings now. I just don't want her to be underfed any more. It breaks my heart that she wasn't eating well because of her beak being hooked and I didn't know it the whole time. I want her to be healthy like other chicks.

As I observe, if her beak gets longer or stay this way, I should take out my nail file and take care of it a little at a time, and I will wait for another month or so making sure she gets bigger like you suggested. I will observe carefully and report back see how it goes. Thank you.

Try feeding her chicken crumbles after you have made them wet. Not wet enough to be soupy just wet enough for her to sink her beak into.

A nail file used on her beak will work wonders. Since her beak is not crossed she should do well with a little TLC.

We used the dremel on a full grown hen but it would be best to use nail clippers or a small diamond file for a chick so small

Tomomi M said:

As you mentioned, I don't want to harm the delicate Silkie by trying to help and only goes to the wrong direction. Also, I was afraid the noise from Dremel tool may scare her.

We plan to move the flock outside this weekend. When she goes outside, she may be able to file her beak on her own with dirt and rocks and all. When I give her yogurt, I guess the clump of yogurt sticking to her beaks bothers her, she rubs her beaks on the floor which is newspapers and pine shavings now. I just don't want her to be underfed any more. It breaks my heart that she wasn't eating well because of her beak being hooked and I didn't know it the whole time. I want her to be healthy like other chicks.

As I observe, if her beak gets longer or stay this way, I should take out my nail file and take care of it a little at a time, and I will wait for another month or so making sure she gets bigger like you suggested. I will observe carefully and report back see how it goes. Thank you.

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Yes I have to agree none of us want to hurt our baby's intentionally and I do think you have a good plan going there

Thank you all for the good advice. I am currently feeding them MannaPro's medicated Chick Starter but it only comes in 5 pound bags, and 8 chicks go through more than a bag a week, so I am about to open a 50 pound bag of Purina medicated Start & Grow. They are a bit larger but I think they are big enough to handle them. I am also giving them Chick Grit but I think once they go outdoor, I won't have to give them Chick Grit since there is going to be dirt all over there.

I am going to give them an option to go for soften crumbles so that Emma can sink in her beak and it makes easier to eat. That's a good idea!

I am going to check into "diamond file" which I've never heard of. I own a diamond steal to horn/sharpen my knives but didn't know such file existed, so I need to check. That sounds like an efficient way to file.

I am going to observe for a month or so while I feed her softened crumbles. Thank you!!

The hooked beak can be what is remaining of what is called the egg tooth. This is a hook to the beak to assist the chick with breaking open the egg shell. This egg tooth is usually supposed to wear off with in a couple days.
Any small coarse type nail file will do with helping to file this hook off. If u are concerned over how to restrain the bird to do the procedure the best way is to tape the wings, head, neck and legs to a counter top or a sturdy board big enough to tape to. You can Google these procedures as we use this all the time to restrain birds who need radiographs (x-ray) taken and the bird can not move. This is very safe, effective and humane way of restraining birds.