4 Out of Six Chickens with Injured Beaks

ChxLadyMary

Chirping
Apr 21, 2020
104
45
81
My flock of six chickens were locked up overnight and the only things in their coop where they sleep are shavings and a heater. They were let out and no one seemed to notice anything happened. That means it either happened over night or very first thing when they were let out. Some people thought the feeder was a problem but not all of them got the cuts. Were they attacking each other? The only reason I doubt that is because the cut on the beaks is the same on all four chickens who got injured. What happened and what should I do?
 

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That kind of injury usually happens from putting the beak through something, wire, feeders etc, or sometimes from running into things in a panic. What kind of feeder are you using? If there is wire they may be trying to reach something on the other side. Where are you located, generally, in the world? Fully feathered chickens don't need heat in the coop, and it can be a serious fire hazard. Without seeing pictures of your set up and being able to look for things that might be a problem, that's the best I can tell you.
 
That kind of injury usually happens from putting the beak through something, wire, feeders etc, or sometimes from running into things in a panic. What kind of feeder are you using? If there is wire they may be trying to reach something on the other side. Where are you located, generally, in the world? Fully feathered chickens don't need heat in the coop, and it can be a serious fire hazard. Without seeing pictures of your set up and being able to look for things that might be a problem, that's the best I can tell you.
Here are some pictures of the coop set up. The feeders and waters don't go in there at night. I looked in the vent where the wire is and saw nothing they could be trying to get.
 

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I don't see anything obvious, but the wire over the vent is a maybe. Could have happened in the run outside, it's very hard to say exactly when you don't see it happen. I've had chickens get hung up on and hurt on things that never in my wildest dreams would I have thought. So I would do some observing, to see if you can pinpoint any issues. If a bug runs across a surface on the other side of wire, they are going to try to get it. Same with bugs, or greens on the outside of run wire. I've had them get startled by things and slam into the wire. I had one get stuck in a two inch gap in some boards once, really wedged in and probably would have died if I hadn't found her. Had a rooster panic and fly into wire and break his toe. So, despite what we think is OK, sometimes they will illustrate that it may not be, at least in chicken logic. Those beaks should heal up fine with some time. But I would try to ID what happened so that in the future you don't have anything worse, like cracked or broken beaks.
 

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