Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[ValarieF]

How does one fix that? Is she ok now?

Super glue

 

[Pastel the Rooster]

Super glue

Really? Her beak had just gone sideways. It is kinda cross beak I think... Vets are very expensive and she seems perfectly happy. She pecks my boots for cuddles. I can certainly take her to the vet, unless my dad says otherwise, but if all they do is trim it, it seems like a waste of gas and money, because I have a dremel at home.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Oh wow. That is a tad fancier than what I have.
I could use a trickle charger but it has 4 terminals and I don’t understand that!
If the replacement battery doesn’t solve the problem and I end up buying a new energizer I may have to go for something like that.
I do have mains electric but I was told that is an issue for electric fences because the GFI trips and cuts off the power whenever an animal grounds the fence.
That is why I went battery, and then solar felt more ‘set and forget’ than needing to bring the battery indoors to charge.

I will research this and check it out. I believe a toad died on the fence after I switched to the plug-in The thing kept zapping. In fact, a strong zapping sound indicates foliage or wet leaves grounding it or something laying on it dead and it’s easy to track it down by sound. I believe I followed directions strictly and have it on a GFI circuit. The outlet is on DH’s tool & work area so it better be!

I believe I’ve zapped myself a couple times since putting it in and one Buckeye touched it accidentally (when they were out of the aviary netting with me). That did not turn off the power to it. First unresearched guess is what you heard applies to the old-style and now illegal way of doing electric fences, which is a dangerous “always-on” style and not the zap interval style. If that were the case a GFI would definitely trip and cut power. I don’t know enough about all this and will let you know what I find out.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Oh wow. That is a tad fancier than what I have.
I could use a trickle charger but it has 4 terminals and I don’t understand that!
If the replacement battery doesn’t solve the problem and I end up buying a new energizer I may have to go for something like that.
I do have mains electric but I was told that is an issue for electric fences because the GFI trips and cuts off the power whenever an animal grounds the fence.
That is why I went battery, and then solar felt more ‘set and forget’ than needing to bring the battery indoors to charge.

The four terminals might be a way to choose the volts level, like the 6 volt or 12 volt little sliding switch you see on the lower right of our trickle charger. You can look up a lot of manuals for machines online to find out how it works.

One thing I liked about this device is that you could see the needle indicating how much draw it was seeing and sending out, so when the needle went to zero indicating no more draw the charging was finished. I would guess that if a battery is old and can’t take a charge anymore the needle would show no draw even when first hooked up.

 

[knoturavggrl]

Really? Her beak had just gone sideways. It is kinda cross beak I think... Vets are very expensive and she seems perfectly happy. She pecks my boots for cuddles. I can certainly take her to the vet, unless my dad says otherwise, but if all they do is trim it, it seems like a waste of gas and money, because I have a dremel at home.

Ex Battery chickens fairly often have their beaks clipped off to stop them from pecking each other. I recall several posts about it. It may be possible to reshape a beak but I remember it’s something to be done carefully and slowly over several months. A little at a time. There are many nerve endings near the beak and I believe this makes filing rather stressful for them. So, I think those that try this do it by hand with a hand file and just a few minutes at time each session. I also think I remember the recommendation that it should only be done if there is an issue with them eating or drinking and it sounds like your girl is doing just fine. I would personally leave well enough alone so long as she is eating and drinking without issue.

 

[Pastel the Rooster]

Okay. Thank you!!!

 

[Pastel the Rooster]

Ex Battery chickens fairly often have their beaks clipped off to stop them from pecking each other. I recall several posts about it. It may be possible to reshape a beak but I remember it’s something to be done carefully and slowly over several months. A little at a time. There are many nerve endings near the beak and I believe this makes filing rather stressful for them. So, I think those that try this do it by hand with hand file and just a few minutes at time over time. I also think I remember the recommendation that its only should be done if their is a issue with them eating or drinking and it sounds like your girl is doing just fine. I would personally leave well enough alone so long as she is eating and drinking without issue.

She never got her break cut off. She's not an Ex Battery chicken.

 

[Cold-Blood]

Ex Battery chickens fairly often have their beaks clipped off to stop them from pecking each other. I recall several posts about it. It may be possible to reshape a beak but I remember it’s something to be done carefully and slowly over several months. A little at a time. There are many nerve endings near the beak and I believe this makes filing rather stressful for them. So, I think those that try this do it by hand with a hand file and just a few minutes at time each session. I also think I remember the recommendation that it should only be done if there is an issue with them eating or drinking and it sounds like your girl is doing just fine. I would personally leave well enough alone so long as she is eating and drinking without issue.

She never got her break cut off. She's not an Ex Battery chicken.

To piggyback on what @knoturavggrl said, I would also say that sometimes the beak injuries resolve themselves. I had a hen crack her beak quite a while ago and it looked like it might start to cross, but ended up going back together as it grew out.

 

[knoturavggrl]

She never got her break cut off. She's not an Ex Battery chicken.

I understand she isn't and that in no way was she harmed intentionally as those ex batts are. The filing I have heard about to fix beaks is rarely talked about except in relation to those that care for the ex batts, which is why I mentioned them. Based on your description your girl has mended well and should be fine

 

[Ponypoor]

Really? Her beak had just gone sideways. It is kinda cross beak I think... Vets are very expensive and she seems perfectly happy. She pecks my boots for cuddles. I can certainly take her to the vet, unless my dad says otherwise, but if all they do is trim it, it seems like a waste of gas and money, because I have a dremel at home.

I say as long as she is eating well then I would not stress her (or your dad) out.