Topic of the Week - Beaks, spurs and nails

[3KillerBs]

I have never had occasion to have to manage my birds' nails, beaks, or spurs.

If I keep a rooster long enough for his spurs to become a problem I suppose I'd have to trim them to keep them blunt, but a chicken that needed claw or beak trimming in any but the most unusual circumstances would be a culling candidate since I wouldn't want to breed trouble into my flock.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I don't do anything with my roosters spurs as I've found the extremely long ends to shed off naturally. My oldest roosters will be 3 years old in the next few months. With that said, my roosters aren't kept with the hens. Things would be much different in that case because I can see how a hen could easily become damaged from a roosters overly long spurs while mating. I have 2 hens with spurs and I'm just keeping an eye on them. Both of them are 18 months old and very sweet lower ranking girls. Their spurs are still very rounded at the tips and are still less than an inch long. I don't do anything with beaks either. One of my roosters has a very slight crossbeak and luckily he hasn't needed any extra care in his 18 months. I don't trim nails unless it's necessary. I have one drake that has long nails that I am trimming as he'll tolerate it. I don't know how his nails are so long as the other drakes and/or hens don't have an issue. I usually have my daughter to hold him to her chest with him facing outwards. I gently hold his leg and foot and clip it with small dog scissor type nail clippers

Edited to add: Thankfully my roosters get along well, but I always keep a close eye on them and their spurs. I had a bantam rooster that enjoyed fence fighting with the big boys. One of his spurs curled upwards in a circle. During his fence fighting, he managed to get his spur hung up on the chain link fencing. I was able to free him but his spur fell off within a couple of days and it was a bloody oozing mess. So if I see spurs causing problems, I will take a different route to address any problems

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

I have bricks / pavers beside the feeders as they like to wipe their beaks after they eat so no beak trimming needed here.
I've only had to trim nails on a less active / disabled Silkie every now and again. I use dog nail trimmers for that. The others forage around in dirt/ rocks/ sand and I haven't needed to trim their nails.
I trim crests occasionally on overly fluffy hens for better vision.
I haven't dealt with large spurs yet, the longest I've kept a rooster is 3 years and his spurs weren't excessively long.
I've had a couple recently hatch with scissor beak and I culled them as I don't want to use them for breeding and wouldn't consider selling them incase the new owners don't give them special care to help them eat, then they may starve to death.

 

[Solanacae]

I have never had a cockerel/rooster long enough to have problems with spurs, nor have I ever had to deal with overgrown/cross/scissor beak issues. I have had a couple of instances where a hen’s beak got cracked and bled a little but it healed in its own.

I have two Sultans that tend to grow long nails. I think it is a combination of feathered feet + 5 toes that make it so they can’t scratch the ground as strongly. I think the 5 toes has a bigger influence on this than the feathered feet, as I also had a Salmon Faverolles that tended to have longer nails as well. Their toes are just thinner and less powerful than the 4 toes breeds I have. In the case of the Sultans, anyway, the effect is amplified by the feathers dragging in the ground as well. I’d love to hear if other people have noticed this in their flocks.

At any rate, I do have to trim their nails periodically because they don’t get worn down as well as the rest of the flock. I have a pair of dog toenail clippers that work just fine.

 

[PippinTheChicken]

- How and when do you trim your chickens' beaks and nails?
I don't have a specific time, but if I notice on of my birds has an overgrown beak or toenail, I file it down (I have a super strong nail file for acrylic nails)
- Do you remove your roosters' spurs and how do you do it?
My roosters have never grown sputs long enough for them ti be removed. Biggest spur I got was an inch long.
- How do you manage beak problems, such as cross beaks, broken/cracked beaks?
never had one of these problems, but I'm certain that BYC could help me if it does (especially @JustBabyMargo for the crossbeak part)

 

[BlackbeardTheGuinea]

A minor cracked beak heals on it's own.

Black beard had a cracked beak I put Vetericyn Plus® Antimicrobial All Animal Wound and Skin Care and it healed up nicely.

 

[Show Sebright]

I do it monthly. I use human toe nail clipper and just cut tinny Pieces off and hope I don’t reach but if I do I use corn starch or blood stop
Yep! Take the pliers and twist. They pop off and just dap with blood stop.
I don’t have beak problems . I did have a bird with beak rot. I just kept in clean and took of all the dead stuff.

 

[Cloverr39]

It was recommended by a veterinarian last year to start trimming the spurs after the cockerel is one year old, when the spurs start to grow more, and keep trimming little at a time as the spurs grow so that way the spurs never get too long.

Trim how exactly? I have a rooster that will be a year old in 2 months. His spurs are still small, so how would you trim them? With dog nail clippers? I don't have one of those dremel tools everyone talks about.

 

[raingarden]

https://www.amazon.com/Dremel-7300-...hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4583726542012631&psc=1

The nails are pretty straightforward but the spur has a sheath and a core that you need to be aware of. The sheath can separate from the core.

 

[3KillerBs]

Trim how exactly? I have a rooster that will be a year old in 2 months. His spurs are still small, so how would you trim them? With dog nail clippers? I don't have one of those dremel tools everyone talks about.

If they don't need it then you don't need to.