Bottom beak excessively protruding

[kratzcoop]

I just noticed two of my girl's bottom beaks are about a half inch longer than their top beaks and starting to curl upward. I wish I would have caught this sooner, but we're in central WI and have had a lot of snow, so the girls haven't been out of their coop for awhile (they don't like the snow.) My other girl's beaks are fine, so I'm not sure what happened with these two. I've had chickens for about 5 years now and have never see this before. Is it okay to trim their beaks with a nail clipper? Is there blood in a bottom beak like in a cat's nails? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[coach723]

Pictures would be helpful. Yes, they can be trimmed, you just don't want to do too much and hit the quick, that will bleed and be painful. Depending on beak color, you can often see where it is. You can use a file or dremel also, just take off small amounts at a time. Make sure it's the lower beak that has overgrown, and not an upper beak that has been broken (why pictures would help). If you put concrete blocks, large rocks, stepping stones, etc in the run where they can get to them, they will use them to naturally hone their beaks (they often wipe their beaks after eating or drinking) and that can help prevent this. Some birds may need a trim now and then, others may do fine on their own.

 

[kratzcoop]

Hi, thank you for responding. I have the pictures attached below. I'll be sure to put a block in their run for them. And I'll be very careful when trimming.

 

[coach723]

Both of them look like they've been debeaked, which makes the upper beak permanently shorter. This is done to birds kept in crowded situations, often commercial set ups, to prevent cannibalism due to over crowding. Be very careful not to make the lower one too short. Just trim a little at a time, make sure not to hit the quick, and keep an eye on them. The blocks will hopefully help keep them in shape going forward. The bottom one being to long can make it harder for them to eat and drink.

 

[kratzcoop]

Both of them look like they've been debeaked, which makes the upper beak permanently shorter. This is done to birds kept in crowded situations, often commercial set ups, to prevent cannibalism due to over crowding. Be very careful not to make the lower one too short. Just trim a little at a time, make sure not to hit the quick, and keep an eye on them. The blocks will hopefully help keep them in shape going forward. The bottom one being to long can make it harder for them to eat and drink.

Great...thank you so much for the advice!