Do baby debeaked chick's lick?

[Anny]

I would like to state once again that chicken that are debeaked don't grow there beaks back like some people have stated. Maybe you're thinking of chicken who's beaks are trimmed.

I have seen many retired battery or rescued battery hens who have no beaks, and will never have a beak because they were debeaked. Just so people understand.

 

[Hiedi]

Quote:
Just to try an answer your question about whether a chicken can lick. I am new to the chicken scene. However, if a chick is debeaked, I would think that it would instinctively try some other behavior in its place (besides pecking) and maybe the tongue would protrude past the removed beak so I would think that a chicken might try to lick if it was not able to peck. That is my uneducated guess.

 

[jed1154]

Man, there is a lot of hate on this thread.

Its a very chicken for crying out loud.

 

[fowltemptress]

Quote:
Not really the smartest of things to say on this forum

 

[Hiedi]

Quote:
Those words could easily spark a riot here; I do believe.

 

[WisconsinChick]

Quote:
Thats not funny, dont ever say that.

 

[EweSheep]

I never heard of a chicken licking but I do know that they scoop with their bottom beak to eat and drink and tongue does the rest. Never saw one that would actually lick their beak outwardly like humans do after getting ice cream on bottom of their chins.

Glad you are learning, debeaking is not the end of the world for a chick or chickens. Many have survived it. I personally dont like it, too distracting to the face of a beautiful chicken. At least you had a reason to have it done yourself.

Welcome to BYC!

 

[pjbarb]

OK maybe I got this wrong but please remember I am relatively new at this. After reading the new posts today on this topic, I have another question. My chicks beaks are not mutilated by any means. The tips are trimmed, is there really two types of debeaking or trimming or......i'm confused. I realize it is wrong either way but their beaks are still there, you really can't even notice. With that, no my children haven't noticed they are fine thank-you.

 

[LinckHillPoultry]

Quote:
What you explained about the pullets and their feathers sounds more like a rooster mating with the hens... not pecking.

I wouldn't worry again about having the chicks debeaked. I never heard about how it helps really, and I've never had any of mine debeaked, and I haven't ever had a problem.

Debeaking is supposed to be an extremely painful process for a chick, also, it usually isn't necessary because it doesn't even make a difference.
My older RIR hens that were given to me by a friend had been debeaked, and now they have an overgrown bottom beak and it just looks funny and you can actually see in their mouth.

I believe that a debeaked chicken can sometimes actually have trouble.
It kind of reminds me of like a deformity for a chicken. If you think about it, it's as unnecessary for a chicken to be debeaked as a human to have their tongue split.


Not being rude. The licking thing is really funny though. People would pay to see a chicken lick something.

 

[Hiedi]

Quote:
Just to try an answer your question about whether a chicken can lick. I am new to the chicken scene. However, if a chick is debeaked, I would think that it would instinctively try some other behavior in its place (besides pecking) and maybe the tongue would protrude past the removed beak so I would think that a chicken might try to lick if it was not able to peck. That is my uneducated guess.

I am not being judgmental about the reason for the debeaking here, just wanted to add this to my above post. My observation of watching my pullets for 14 weeks is: their beaks are vitally important for eating and drinking. In fact, they use their beaks to pick up food. I see them use their beaks to break up food into smaller pieces to eat. So I am wondering if the debeaking could cause a future eating and drinking problem?