Concerned about beak

[Nickel-Max]

Take a look at the sweetest girl in my flock... She came to me with her beak, but I didn't notice it until she was in assimilation lock-down.

Is anyone worried about this? I've mixed pellets with crumbles and believe she's eating... But today while giving them some mealworms, I noticed that she wasn't able to grab them.

Thoughts ?

 

[Percheron chick]

Is she an x battery hen? She appears to be partially debeaked. I would trim her lower beak a little every few days. It will never look normal and she will have trouble picking things up off the ground but she will eat fine from a deep feeder.

 

[Nickel-Max]

The gentleman I bought her from, said she was hatched 15 months ago at his home. Didn't say anything about her having been de-beaked... And I didn't know to look.

recommendations for HOW to trim the lower beak? That seems terrifying to me -- do vets do that?

Thank you! First time chicken farmer, and I feel so badly that her beak was tweaked... She's the sweetest in my bunch.

 

[Percheron chick]

I don't know if I would buy that story. That looks human induced.

Trim it like you trim a dog's toenails. With a dog trimmer just cut back the clear tip. It will bleed if you cut too much off at a time. You can also just use a file. Hand feed the mealworms as a reward. If you wrap her in a towel that will help keep her quiet and under control.

Finding a vet that will work on poultry is very challenging. You need to develop a comfort level doing your own care. Just the office call will far exceed the value of the hen.

 

[islafarm]

Hi Nickel-Max,

sorry to hear about your chicken's beak. It looks like the lower beak has been worn into an almost spoon shape, from the angle can't see the front of the upper beak, but it seems like it's an old injury. I don't think it's so rare for birds to break their beaks, and if this was a human interaction it must have been very cruel as the beak is very short. Hopefully it was an accident and your girl has recovered well enough to make do with what she's got. With such issues, birds do much better eating from a deep dish and can scoop up the food with their lower beak, but pecking isn't going to work as she has her beak now. Moistening the food will make it easier to scoop too I think.

There's a wonderful thread on here about a chicken with a remarkable recovery story after losing most of her upper beak in a dog attack, but I can't find the thread. However if you enter 'broken beak' in the search bar you'll find over 200 pages of threads on this subject. Many with excellent advice - and some really sweet stories about resilient hens with good 'mamas' who enable a rich and rewarding chickie life.

Good luck with your girls! Deep dishes and hand fed treats for Miss Sweetie

 

[bigmrg74]

One of year old Black Sex Links managed to rip off the outer layer of her upper beak yesterday.

 

[bigmrg74]

Take a look at the sweetest girl in my flock... She came to me with her beak, but I didn't notice it until she was in assimilation lock-down.

Is anyone worried about this? I've mixed pellets with crumbles and believe she's eating... But today while giving them some mealworms, I noticed that she wasn't able to grab them.

Thoughts ?

How is your hen doing??