Hook beak on chick

[Solanacae]

I have a 10 week chick that I’ve been treating with a hooked beak. I’ve been filing down the overgrown part every 3-4 days. I’ve included progress pictures of that helps at all, but I haven’t been successful in getting a good picture that shows the underside of the bill and how far the live part extends. When I was filing a couple days ago, I think I reached the sensitive part, because the resistance on the file changed and the chick flinched. I stopped filing immediately and then took the picture after checking to make sure I hadn’t drawn blood.

Do I keep filing every 3-4 days of do I need to slow down since I’m so close to nerves and live tissue? If I continue to file a little bit away as I have been doing, will it eventually recede, or will this gal always have to deal with a hooked bill?

Picture the day she hatched:

She may have had the beginnings of a hooked bill already?

This is week 3ish, top beak a little overgrown in hindsight.

She was hatched by a broody, so between the mama keeping her chicks close and having some hectic weeks because life happens, I didn’t notice how severe the hook was getting until about week 6-7.

This was her beak the day I started filing, but before filing.

Progress after about 1.5 weeks

About a week after that

Most recent picture from a couple days ago.

 

[Liveove]

I have a 10 week chick that I’ve been treating with a hooked beak. I’ve been filing down the overgrown part every 3-4 days. I’ve included progress pictures of that helps at all, but I haven’t been successful in getting a good picture that shows the underside of the bill and how far the live part extends. When I was filing a couple days ago, I think I reached the sensitive part, because the resistance on the file changed and the chick flinched. I stopped filing immediately and then took the picture after checking to make sure I hadn’t drawn blood.

Do I keep filing every 3-4 days of do I need to slow down since I’m so close to nerves and live tissue? If I continue to file a little bit away as I have been doing, will it eventually recede, or will this gal always have to deal with a hooked bill?

Picture the day she hatched:
View attachment 3348962
She may have had the beginnings of a hooked bill already?

This is week 3ish, top beak a little overgrown in hindsight.
View attachment 3348969

She was hatched by a broody, so between the mama keeping her chicks close and having some hectic weeks because life happens, I didn’t notice how severe the hook was getting until about week 6-7.
View attachment 3348975

This was her beak the day I started filing, but before filing.
View attachment 3349001
Progress after about 1.5 weeks
View attachment 3348980
About a week after that
View attachment 3349002
Most recent picture from a couple days ago.
View attachment 3349008

Beaks grow like nails so she will always have a hooked beak as long as it’s not filed. I

 

[Solanacae]

Beaks grow like nails so she will always have a hooked beak as long as it’s not filed. I

So you don’t think it will ever get any shorter? I’m fine with maintaining it if needed, just want to know what to expect.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Her beak will continue to grow. To ease on the bird, you can slow down on filing as long as her beak doesn't outgrow how much you're filing. (I file my crossbeak about every two weeks and she's fine.) If you don't have the time to keep up with it, debeaking might be a better option. Yes, it sounds terrible, but if you debeak the top (this is temporary debeak) to be lined up with the bottom, she might be able to keep her beak down for a little while before it grows out too long again. Also, if you do the temporary debeak, you can be ready to file it once it gets to where it needs to be and keep it that way. (Doing the temporary debeak might actually fix it.)

Another debeaking option is the permanent debeak. With permanent debeak you cut both top and bottom instead of just the top like in temporary debeak. You'd cut both top and bottom so they're level with each other and you should never have to worry about her beak again. (At least that's the purpose of the permanent debeak.)

Now I've had plenty of debeaked birds, all permanent debeaks except for my latest (she's already grown her beak back to normal), but I've never debeaked my birds myself. I got them that way. So I have no clue how you would go about on getting your bird debeaked if you decided to go that route. Out of the two options I think the temporary debeak would be the best because you might be able to fix her beak forever and she eventually will have a normal beak.

On a side note of all of this, hook beak is from the bottom beak being too short and not able to properly line up with the top beak to grind down, so the top beak gets out of control. Or, is there a possibility that she's got some genetic flaw that's caused whatever makes the beak grow be in over drive?

I've never studied deep into hook beak before though I had issues with my bantam flock. Their beaks were easy to trim with nail clippers and didn't grow as fast as your chick's does. With my bantams, it was a grinding issue. They didn't get anything that would encourage grinding due to their small size. Things that help with grind is grit, oyster shells, and pellets. They must work to get these things in place to go down their throats, and if they won't fit, they spit it out. This is all done with their beaks and is when the most grind happens. If they have nothing but mash or crumbles, it's too easy to just swallow, so they never grind (as was the issue with my bantams) and their beaks become too long.

 

[Liveove]

Her beak will continue to grow. To ease on the bird, you can slow down on filing as long as her beak doesn't outgrow how much you're filing. (I file my crossbeak about every two weeks and she's fine.) If you don't have the time to keep up with it, debeaking might be a better option. Yes, it sounds terrible, but if you debeak the top (this is temporary debeak) to be lined up with the bottom, she might be able to keep her beak down for a little while before it grows out too long again. Also, if you do the temporary debeak, you can be ready to file it once it gets to where it needs to be and keep it that way. (Doing the temporary debeak might actually fix it.)

Another debeaking option is the permanent debeak. With permanent debeak you cut both top and bottom instead of just the top like in temporary debeak. You'd cut both top and bottom so they're level with each other and you should never have to worry about her beak again. (At least that's the purpose of the permanent debeak.)

Now I've had plenty of debeaked birds, all permanent debeaks except for my latest (she's already grown her beak back to normal), but I've never debeaked my birds myself. I got them that way. So I have no clue how you would go about on getting your bird debeaked if you decided to go that route. Out of the two options I think the temporary debeak would be the best because you might be able to fix her beak forever and she eventually will have a normal beak.

On a side note of all of this, hook beak is from the bottom beak being too short and not able to properly line up with the top beak to grind down, so the top beak gets out of control. Or, is there a possibility that she's got some genetic flaw that's caused whatever makes the beak grow be in over drive?

I've never studied deep into hook beak before though I had issues with my bantam flock. Their beaks were easy to trim with nail clippers and didn't grow as fast as your chick's does. With my bantams, it was a grinding issue. They didn't get anything that would encourage grinding due to their small size. Things that help with grind is grit, oyster shells, and pellets. They must work to get these things in place to go down their throats, and if they won't fit, they spit it out. This is all done with their beaks and is when the most grind happens. If they have nothing but mash or crumbles, it's too easy to just swallow, so they never grind (as was the issue with my bantams) and their beaks become too long.

debeaking is like dehorning in goats. It kills the cells in a bird’s beak which prevents the beak from growing back since no cells=no cell cycle. The process is gnarly and I don’t recommend it either. I agree that occasional filing should work well. Personally this case of hooked beak looks to me like a genetic defect and not just a grinding issue. Specially since the other birds are fine.

 

[Solanacae]

I agree that the grinding is not an issue, all the other birds in my flock are fine and have the same environment as this one. I see her wiping her beak against the ground when she is out foraging with mama and hatch mates, so I think the correct instinct is there as well.

I have not looked into debeaking, as I’ve always associated it with battery caged birds and how painful it is for the bird. Would it be painful for her the rest of her life? Some things I’ve read imply that, though I’m not sure if that’s just emotional writing against the horrors of battery systems. I guess I need to try and do some research to see if that’s an option I would even consider, and then if there’s anything near where I am that would provide that service. I’ll also look more carefully next time I file her beak to see if her lower beak is normally sized. She is able to eat and has kept up with her hatch mates in terms of growth and feathering, so fortunately that is not a concern.

 

[Liveove]

I agree that the grinding is not an issue, all the other birds in my flock are fine and have the same environment as this one. I see her wiping her beak against the ground when she is out foraging with mama and hatch mates, so I think the correct instinct is there as well.

I have not looked into debeaking, as I’ve always associated it with battery caged birds and how painful it is for the bird. Would it be painful for her the rest of her life? Some things I’ve read imply that, though I’m not sure if that’s just emotional writing against the horrors of battery systems. I guess I need to try and do some research to see if that’s an option I would even consider, and then if there’s anything near where I am that would provide that service. I’ll also look more carefully next time I file her beak to see if her lower beak is normally sized. She is able to eat and has kept up with her hatch mates in terms of growth and feathering, so fortunately that is not a concern.

Debeaking is a skill and requires specialized equipment. It wouldn’t be painful if done correctly, but bad things can happen if done wrong—you aren’t wrong about that. Normally birds recover fully, and just have a slightly shorter beak than usual. as for accidents…beak deformities would definitely be a good example.