De Beaked Rooster Can't Feed Properly

[laurie9503]

I just took on a rescue chicken (rooster). He's a New Hampshire under one year old. He was de-beaked and his tail feathers are gone from being confined in too small an area without a roost. He was in a cage thus far, so his first day outdoors was quite the experience for him. He took a 2 hour dirt bath first thing. He's now getting treats, has a chicken run outside and a chicken house and a flock of his own. He's a sweet boy. He was de-beaked and currently can only eat small grains and mushy things like cooked squash or oatmeal. He can't break up or tear greens, nuts, anything that's not small or mushy basically. Also, it's difficult to scoop up enough water, so he's at the water a lot taking in numerous beakfuls to get enough. My question is, how likely is the beak to grow back any or at all? It doesn't appear to have the ability to grow back, it's was not cut straight..and almost to the nostril holes, his tongue comes out frequently. Poor thing. Any suggestions on foods that would be easy to prepare on a daily basis for him (like oatmeal)?
pictures to come

 

[Ilovemyladies!]

I feed my hens (when they are under the weather) mashed up pellets w/ oatmeal and they love pieces of wet bread.

 

[chickensRcute]

Oh no, I'm glad you got him out of that kind of life!

Sounds like he is in the right place to have a good life now though!

I am not sure about if the beak will grow back if cut to that point, but I will do some checking up on this and let you know what I find out!

I just looked this up and what I found out is that a partial beak may grow back but probably not a full beak! I also found a site that said no beak will grow back so I guess no one knows for sure!

I know that my chickens have broken the very tip of their beak of before and it does grow back! Your roo has a more severe case and I haven't had any experience with this so I hope any of this helps! Good luck with him!

 

[laurie9503]

Hemlock gets treats everyday because of his special beak situation....and using the deep feeder cups like come in a pet carrying case...this helps. He can put his beak deep into the cup for water and food. Treats include: torn pieces of bread, oatmeal, warm buckwheat, banana, yogurt, canned sweet corn, cooked squash and sweet potato, watermelon. We've had rain for a few days, and he does not like the rain "no more rain", Hemlock.

 

[sumi]

Thank you for saving the poor thing, sounds like he went from hell to paradise! Lucky boy
I bought some debeaked hens from a battery farm last year. Some of them has very blunt beaks, some not so bad. I do have one with a bad beak job, the top is shorter than the bottom. The poor girl can't eat fast enough to get a full crop when with the other hens. I've been keeping her inside our house for the past month to get her weight back up to normal. She's getting there, slowly. I found with her it helps if I fill a deep dish with wet, mushy food. She also picked up some whole corn kernels from the couch the other day. She can't pick them up from the floor.
From what I've seen with my hens the debeaking was too severe for regrowth, unfortunately. I've had them since October, they were 16 weeks old then, and their beaks haven't grown at all.

Good luck!

 

[The reluctant chicken]

I also have a rooster that was debeaked, he seems to manage okay, but I make sure he gets special treats.