I have one hen that has a split in her beak, it looks like a "V" but upside down. This makes her look like she has a pair of beaks, or a set of FANGS! It doesn't seem to really affect her, we thought it might be a hereditary defect - we got as a chick last year with a bunch of others and she's the only one with this issue. We didn't notice it until she was pretty well grown, but we were trying to handle 24 chicks at the time, so we just figured "we didn't notice it" earlier. We call her Vampirella or Miss Vampire Chicken.
We got some more chicks this spring, 3 in February, one BO and 2 EE. Since there were ONLY THREE to keep an eye on, we got a much better feel for the way they were individually developing as chicks. Well what do you know, the BO now has a split in her beak! Looks like Vampirella's, so we have been calling her Buffy the Vampire Chicken.
But at this point, it's obvious that this is NOT a genetic defect. It may be a beak weakness that causes this to happen with a specific trauma, but it's not "just there", it HAPPENED at some point. I think it may have happened when she lost her virginity - one of our roos pinned her in the corner of the coop and she had her head stuck down in the corner - he did his thing pretty quickly and got off, but she just stayed there. I'm pretty sure it was her first time. I picked her up and she was really glad to see me. Poor girl!
I think she may have gotten her face/beak slammed into the corner. I had not noticed the split prior to that time, didn't notice it when I picked her up as she was sort of hiding her face.
So I'm thinking that may have been when it happened.
My question is, how should I try to address this? Superglue at the top of the split and hope it grows out? I know chicken beaks grow over time like fingernails. I'm a little worried about supergluing the top, if any of the glue gets IN their mouth...
They both seem to be eating their laying pellets OK, just have trouble occasionally with treats like cantaloupe getting stuck in the V, but they rub their beaks on something to get it out.
Recommendations? Do you guys need pics? THANKS IN ADVANCE!!
We got some more chicks this spring, 3 in February, one BO and 2 EE. Since there were ONLY THREE to keep an eye on, we got a much better feel for the way they were individually developing as chicks. Well what do you know, the BO now has a split in her beak! Looks like Vampirella's, so we have been calling her Buffy the Vampire Chicken.
But at this point, it's obvious that this is NOT a genetic defect. It may be a beak weakness that causes this to happen with a specific trauma, but it's not "just there", it HAPPENED at some point. I think it may have happened when she lost her virginity - one of our roos pinned her in the corner of the coop and she had her head stuck down in the corner - he did his thing pretty quickly and got off, but she just stayed there. I'm pretty sure it was her first time. I picked her up and she was really glad to see me. Poor girl!
My question is, how should I try to address this? Superglue at the top of the split and hope it grows out? I know chicken beaks grow over time like fingernails. I'm a little worried about supergluing the top, if any of the glue gets IN their mouth...
Recommendations? Do you guys need pics? THANKS IN ADVANCE!!
