And what the heck is "debeaking"??? And, do I need Marek vaccinations.

[MayberrySaint]

Is their any evidence that debeaking actually causes pain? or is it like cutting a nail?

The reason I ask is that I think my hens would be much happier if Vito, the rooster was debeaked and couldn't grab them so tight on the neck when mating...

 

[silkiechicken]

I think there is a fundamental difference in debeaking and beak trimming that is often confused by people in general. Beak trimming will not hurt because it is like cutting a nail. When they are trimmed, they will grow back. Debeaking does hurt, because it is eqivalent to cutting off the tips of your fingers so that the nail cannot physically grow anymore because it is not there. One invoves blood and cauterizing the beak end and the other is just taking off excess beak.

How much and if a beak can grow back depends on how far the beak was initally cut. If it was cut very little it can come back because it didn't damage the blood supply on the inside. If it was cut deep, there will be a perminant loss of beak that cannot come back.

 

[nightshade]

we bought 4 pheasent peeps that were debeaked and we did not know it at the time. All died within 2 weeks. I was told later that if it is done wrong they can not eat or drink properly and it will kill them. In which case most live only a few days. We only found out cause one lived two weeks and got big enough were you could see the outside of the beak was completely gone. We had known something was wrong with them after only having them home a few hours but I never would have guessed someone cut off their beaks.

IT IS HORRIBLE!

 

[skatcatla]

Thanks all. It sounds perfectly dreadful and I was surprised to see this option on the Ideal website when ordering. I tend to think nature knows what she is doing and don't feel the need to "adjust" my animal friends.

My GSP came with her tail docked...left up to me I'd never have chosen that.

 

[chickaboo7]

We adopted a GSP with a tail but it was bent funny. The only thing I could say was WoW look at that Wagger.

 

[chicknmania]

They will grow back. It must have to do with nerve damage, cause we've had some that've grown theirs back completely, and others partially. But we've never had any that didn't grow back at all. And we've had quite a few that have been debeaked. It does take a while; I've never paid much attention to how long.