Can I file a baby chick's hooked beak? It is only a few days old and having difficulty eating.

[susanah]

Is this safe to do? I have read about doing this with older chickens but I don't want to hurt the little thing. Also what do you think is the best way to do this?
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[tec27]

Can u post a pic?

 

[susanah]

We haven't been able to upload pictures to this site for weeks. The best way I can describe it is instead of the beak meeting equally at the end, the bottom part stops and the top part curves over the bottom and down like a severe overbite. Looks kind of like an eagle's beak. I think she is getting some food, but does seem to be struggling with it.

 

[susanah]

OK, this is NOT my bird. Mine is only 3 days old. But the beak looks like the chicken's in the front of the pic. Do you think it will be ok? Should I try to do something?

 

[tec27]

OK, this is NOT my bird. Mine is only 3 days old. But the beak looks like the chicken's in the front of the pic. Do you think it will be ok? Should I try to do something?

Haha. Okay yeah i was gonna say if your bird made it this far im pretty sure it will be okay. But anyway, I've never had this problem, but if i did i would try to trim it with clippers while she's still young. Here's some related links:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/118413/curved-beak-pics-added-beak-trimming/10

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/591281/curved-beaks

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/786204/extreme-curved-beak