Beak injuries eating mashed food?!

[Bear4boo]

I gave our 9 week old chickens a bowl of wet feed (mash). They all went absolutely nuts over it! After eating it I noticed one of them had a piece of her beak damaged and several others had smaller red spots on their beaks. The only thing I can think of is they were eating so aggressively and trying to wipe off the food that got stuck to their beaks and hurt themselves that way? Has anyone else experienced this? Pic attached of injured beak.

 

[The Chick Addict]

That sounds like the case. One of my Buff Orpington pullets had a similar injury in the same spot. It healed on its own but I would spray a little bit of Blue-Kote spray on the wound.

 

[Weeg]

I would assume that the lead hen was so excited about the feed, that she was pecking the others to try and say, “this is mine, get out of here!” Or they banged their beaks on the dish while eating.

 

[Weeg]

It should heal on its own quite quickly.

 

[The Chick Addict]

I would assume that the lead hen was so excited about the feed, that she was pecking the others to try and say, “this is mine, get out of here!” Or they banged their beaks on the dish while eating.

I agree!

 

[Bear4boo]

I would assume that the lead hen was so excited about the feed, that she was pecking the others to try and say, “this is mine, get out of here!” Or they banged their beaks on the dish while eating.

I watched them eat and they were definitely attacking the food and trying to get the food off of each other’s faces lol. I’m kind of sad about it because they really loved it and I would like to keep giving it to them.

 

[Weeg]

I watched them eat and they were definitely attacking the food and trying to get the food off of each other’s faces lol. I’m kind of sad about it because they really loved it and I would like to keep giving it to them.

You can keep giving it to them. They might become more sophisticated eaters overtime. Very minor and quite common injuries.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

What kind of dish are you feeding out of and how many birds?

 

[Bear4boo]

What kind of dish are you feeding out of and how many birds?

I used a metal dog dish. 6 birds.