How do I trim a beak?

grnidone

Songster
7 Years
Jul 9, 2016
208
233
167
Russell, Kansas
My rooster somehow got his beak caught in the coop wire and broke off a bit of the top of his beak a couple of months ago. I could see both halves of his nostrils and the septum in the middle, but he didn't seem like he was in pain, so I just left it.

The top half of his beak started growing back, but one side is growing down past the bottom part of his beak a bit faster than the other causing him to have a crooked bite. I don't need to trim much off, but I feel like if I could just take a tiny little bit off the longer side, his bite will be straight.

What should I use to do this? Maybe a pair of wire nippers? Or should I use a dremel with super fine sandpaper and sort of file it down?
 
The Dremmel is a more precise tool that will enable you to gradually shape the irregular side of the beak.

Take it slowly. The beak has more nerve endings than anything else on a chicken's body, and it can cause excruciating pain if you nick the quick. Profuse bleeding that's very hard to stop can also result.

This is just to make you aware of what you're dealing with. I trim my roosters' beaks to round off the sharp tip to minimize damage to hens during mating. I wrap the rooster securely in a towel, get a firm grip on his head, and slowly run the Dremmel with a blunt grinding head over his beak. A Dremmel is a perfect chicken grooming tool.
 
The Dremmel is a more precise tool that will enable you to gradually shape the irregular side of the beak.

Take it slowly. The beak has more nerve endings than anything else on a chicken's body, and it can cause excruciating pain if you nick the quick. Profuse bleeding that's very hard to stop can also result.

This is just to make you aware of what you're dealing with. I trim my roosters' beaks to round off the sharp tip to minimize damage to hens during mating. I wrap the rooster securely in a towel, get a firm grip on his head, and slowly run the Dremmel with a blunt grinding head over his beak. A Dremmel is a perfect chicken grooming tool.

Awesome, I will give this a shot. And thanks for the warning about how sensitive the beak is. I wasn’t aware of that.
 

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