Trimmed beak

[tslaven]

I am brand new to site and had to share nightmare experience I had tonight. I bought 3 Jersey Giants last weekend for my daughter to show in 4H and to try our hand at breeding. One of the hens had the lower portion of her beak extending about a 1/4 inch or more longer than the top. The seller said that it would be no problem to trim it back. Worried about her ability to eat and the cosmetic impact, I asked a few people what to do and used dog nail trimmers to trim her beak. Big mistake! I stayed within the white section and trimmed a small amount, but she bled and wouldn't stop. My daughter was near tears (13) and I felt like an ogre. Poor hen was getting blood all over the pen, walls, feeder..I finally stopped the blood with mixture of neosporin and flour. Her coloring was getting pale and I thought I would lose her. My daughter wanted to take her to the emergency vet, but I honestly did not want a huge vet bill.
During the ordeal I googled bleeding beak and got all of these sites saying you should never trim a bird's beak and how painful it is for them. I am interested to hear other opinions/experiences.

 

[appps]

I've been reading on trimming for same reason. This is interesting to read as a lot of stuff says its fine to do.

How much did you trim off?

How is she now? Okay I hope!!

 

[realsis]

what happened was you trimmed too far. I have a cross beak and I trim every month. only once did it bleed when I got into the quick. with lower beak trimming you must be extremely careful. when I did the lower beak on mine was the ONLY time mine ever bled.because of my birds condition I MUST keep her trimmed every month. just trim very small increments only about a millimeter at a time. and if you MUST trim the lower you have to be extremely cautious about it. you are not an ogar! sometimes it happens and they bleed. they should be alright. I HAVE to trim every month because of the cross beak but usually its very easy just a small snip and that's it .I've been trimming mine for 5 months and she only bled ONCE. its just something that sometimes happens. I like you felt so badly. but within an hour she was eating again and fine. you can get a septic pencil and have it handy invade of bleeding.in some cases its necessary to trim the beak for the birds own good.like in the case of a cross beak. I hope my story helps you out some. next time just remember to do only about a millimeter at a time. I think that will help you out. and sometimes accidents happen. your not a bad person you were only trying to help. but some people like in the case of my cross beak MUST trim for the good of the bird. hope this helps. good luck and best wishes!

 

[tslaven]

Thank you very much for the info and support. I don't plan to do it ever again...poor girl.. I don't think she likes me much and can't blame her. The incident did give rise to her name which is "Pica" Spanish for beak.