Should we have our chicks debecked?

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Ok fine, split hairs

Debeaking affects their ability to *thrive*when free ranging. (The degree to which it matters depends on local conditions - type of ground, type of things to eat, etcetera).


Pat

 

[speckledhen]

Not to get into a philosophical discussion here, but point of fact, man created chickens from red junglefowl and various hybrids with other junglefowl species, not god.

You could have gone all day without saying that. You know exactly what her point was, that debeaking is not natural. Some people just love to be contentious for the sake of being contentious, sheesh.

For the record, I would not debeak a chicken, so my vote is NO.​

 

[AussieSharon]

Thank you Cyn. I'm glad someone understood what I meant. I was only pointing out that no matter HOW or WHERE chickens originated they were not born debeaked.

 

[Professional]

As you can't tell a person's tone or attitude from a post, it does little good to start throwing around accusations like that. One person's split hair is another's important detail. I hope that it didn't evade anyone's attention that I actually agreed with everyone else's opinions here about not to debeak. Where's the contention in that?

I do disagree that free range debeaked birds won't thrive. If cared for properly, even on free range, they should be offered feed when they want it, so a debeaked bird, if supposedly less efficient at gathering natural feed, should thrive none the less. Just looking at it a different way, JMO.

 

[chickbea]

Quote:
"Free-ranging" refers to chickens wandering about for the purpose of foraging for food, so debeaking certainly is harmful. They can't peck or grip as well with their beaks, so they can't crop greenery, and they can't pick up bugs.
I'd be surprised if a totally free-ranging debeaked chicken could even get enough food to stay alive without supplementation - anyone out there who has one?

 

[Lunachick]

I have 2 debeaked hens Chickbea. They forage fine out in the yard. I agree they can't get at the grasses as well but they manage. I have a deep dish for their feed also. I've seen them gobble up bugs and they did lots of chicken damage to the gardens

All in all they only thing to me is that it just isn't right, and it doesn't look good either. The debeaked part, I mean.

edited - trying to make myself clearer.

 

[chickenannie]

A chicken's beak has so many vital functions:

- eating & drinking
- self-protection
- establishing pecking order
- turning eggs while setting
- grabbing worms and bugs as they slither into the soil
- picking seeds/grains off grasses & ground
- feather preening

It seems to me that debeaking would make all of these functions much more difficult.

 

[patandchickens]

I do disagree that free range debeaked birds won't thrive. If cared for properly, even on free range, they should be offered feed when they want it, so a debeaked bird, if supposedly less efficient at gathering natural feed, should thrive none the less.

Ah, so this is Theory, not experience speaking ("supposedly", "should")?

Please note that I wrote
Quote:
On soft ground, and/or with food supplied in a feeder in which it can lie in not too shallow a layer, and/or with oodles and oodles of food around, then the degree that debeaking affects freerange thriftiness can be small (or even I suppose zero, although dunno how often that happens).

However, those conditions do not always exist, and in such cases it makes a significant difference. I have seen this in an acquaintance's chickens, and I can tell you that mine are DEFINITELY not as good at foraging, grazing, and eating off a hard surface (including a feeder built in such a way that feed lies in a relatively shallow layer in it) as normal chickens are. And you know, mine are not as severely debeaked as a lot of photos I've seen (meaning photos of BYC'ers birds, not animal rights website photos).

In general, debeaked chickens need extra catering to. The more mash (or whatever) you're funnelling into 'em and the more carefully your feeder needs to be chosen/designed in order to enable them to eat it, the less they can be said to be free range in the sense that most people on this forum seem to mean the term (not just walking around in a larger area but actually deriving substantial nutrition along the way).

You can certainly have a different personal definition of free ranging if you want, Professional. I'm just sayin'.

Pat​

 

[halfwaynowhere]

its like declawing a cat, cropping the ears or docking the tail on a dog. Its an unnecessary amputation, and I see it as just plain cruel.

 

[Cheekon]

Um... NO!!!!!!