Topic of the Week - Beaks, spurs and nails

[Cloverr39]

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

But eventually they'll grow. What should I do then?

 

[3KillerBs]

But eventually they'll grow. What should I do then?

I've never had the need to do any trimming, but there are articles here on BYC and videos on YouTube.

 

[Ridgerunner]

But eventually they'll grow. What should I do then?

Do they cause a problem when they grow? Spurs growing is normal and natural, usually they don't cause any problems. But occasionally they do. The spurs might grow so big and curl around in a way that the chicken has trouble walking. Or the tip of the spur grows into the leg causing a raw wound. This can happen to hens too, it's not limited to roosters. But the vast majority of hens and the vast majority of roosters do not have these problems.

Some hens can become barebacked. If a hen does, it is possible the spurs could cut her during mating. People tend to worry about this a lot more than the chickens but it is a possibility. There are different reasons a hen could become barebacked, not all because of a rooster and not because of spurs. It's the claws that can cause this. Most of the time when this happens this is with pullets and cockerels, not mature chickens and those cockerels don't even have enough spurs to talk about. The claws are what they are standing on and gripping with. Once she is bare it is possible a rooster could cut her with a spur if his technique is pretty clumsy but that is rare. Even when a cut does happen it's almost always due to the claws.

So what should you do when the spurs grow? If they cause a problem deal with it. If they don't cause a problem just enjoy your chickens.

 

[PurpleCArTires]

I don't trim beaks or nails. My ladies and gents seem to take care of that themselves by scratching and wiping their faces. I do have concrete blocks around their yard and a concrete patio leading into their coop, so they are constantly running over concrete.

I haven't tried doing spurs. I think I might tho, I'll probably just remove them with the plyers. My boys are nice to me and pretty gentle on the ladies. Although my Freedom Ranger boy tries to be kind, his huge size and weight causes his spurs to do some damage on his ladies (also freedom rangers)

I have only had 1 cross beak before. I tried to provide for him for almost 8 months. He got special food bowls and water bowls. I trimmed his beak (since it was twisting into his jaw). I had planned on keeping him, but ultimately culled him when he matured and was nasty with the ladies. Since he couldn't grip them to mount, he would just sit on their heads and "peck" at them. He also started getting salty towards me, so he had to go.

 

[Shadrach]

Part of chicken keeping is looking out for spur, beak and townail problems and addressing them if necessary before the problem gets serious.

I'll start with this.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1166494/
What this tells me/us is one should never clip a chickens beak; never. If you do have a chicken with a serious beak deformity then take them to a vet or if it's so bad they can no longer eat then euthanising may prove to be the kindest most humane option.
It's not just the pain and distress caused to the chicken it's there is a high risk of creating hairline fractures in the beak and these weaken the beak in the long term.
Small beak defects can be put right, but with a file, not clippers, or shears. A little at a time with an engineers file, or a decent nail file will do it. I've done a few like this. A good tip is to have a cinder block in the run so the chickens can file their own beaks.

Roosters and hens learn to walk with spur growth. It's not like overnight they develope a problem. Roosters; it may apply to some hens but ime their spurs don't tend to grow as long, will develop a roll with their walk as their spurs grow.
That chap in my avatar had a serious pair of spurs that bent upwards. If you watched him running you wouldn't say they got in his way.

As @Ridgerunner mentions above, feather loss on a hens back is not caused by a roosters spurs. It's almost always their toenails. Some breeds seem more prone to feather loss during mating than others and no matter how skillful the rooster is during mating feathers get broken.
Once again, the problem is best addressed with a nail file. You shouldn't have to file chicken toe nails often. If you're finding toenail growth and roughness a problem then look to the ground the chickens live on. In the normal course of events chickens wear their nails down by scratching in the ground. If your run is mainly bark chippings, or sand then the ground may not provide enough abrasive properties to wear the chickens nails as they scratch. Most natural ground does. A quick manicure with a file from time to time is all that's required.

Spurs do occasionally cause problems especially spurs that do not curl upwards. What can happen is as the rooster slides off the hens back his spurs slide under the hens wings and can rip the hens skin underneath. Upward curved spurs rarely give problems. Straight and downward ponting spurs may.
Again, just filing the points of and checking along the spur for rought patches and sharp growths is perfectly adequate. You do not need to cut or remove spurs.

 

[topochico225]

I cut my d’Uccles’ nails sometimes because they tend to get quite long. They have a rough brick in their run to file beaks and toes on, but seem to only use it for beaks

 

[JanetMarie]

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.

I didn't trim them. Unless the spurs are causing a problem, I thought it was best to leave them alone. Roosters have spurs for a reason.

Proper flock management is the key to keeping a hen's back from being raked bare from a rooster's toenails.