What does debeaking mean?

[ImAngel]

Ive been sitting here looking at so many different chicken related sites today and I just came across something that is a water cooled debeaking system What in the worl does that mean? My imagination says its something terrible. Being new to the chicken world alot of things might as well be written in spanish because I have no clue what is being talked about.

 

[barg]

It is what you think it is, it is something terrible that large chicken producers do to chickens; they remove part of the chickens beak.
Added: If you do a search on this board you will find people here who have recsued chickens that had this done to them.

 

[ImAngel]

OH MAN!!!

Parrot breeders {some} do beak mutilation so the males cant kill the females...ok basically the same thing? I never realized how horrible chickens were treated till I recentally fell in love with them. Thanks for the fast reply.
Angel

 

[PurpleChicken]

They trim the front of the beak so the chicks can't
hurt each other. Only the front is trimmed, not the
whole beak.

It's standard procedure in factory farms where chickens
are boxed in together.

The beaks do grow back but many feel it's cruel. I would
never have mine debeaked, even though a farmer friend
said I had to.

 

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:
I held a few of my friends turkey chicks that were "debeaked". I couldn't
even tell until I looked close. I'm sure there are different levels and extremes.

Any mutilation is questionable to me and a happy balanced flock doesn't need
debeaking.

 

[Alleyoops25]

I have seen a lot of pictures of debeaked poultry, and a few around 4-H poultry shows. After seeing what I have I wouldnt recomend it. A lot of times the birds are burtilized. A huge portian of thier beaks has been rmoved. It horrifing, and sick.

 

[Frozen Feathers]

IMO beak trimming and de-beaking shouldn't even be considered the same thing. There is a big differance, so why factory farms or hatcheries like to use the term beak-trimming other then to make themselves feel better about it, is beyond me. On layers they use a hot blade, cut off half of the top of the beak and a third of the bottom, so the beaks can't grow back normal (if they do at all), that I would define as de-beaking...or mutilation.

Trimming, on the other hand, is done for show, shipping adult birds and health reasons. Only the tip is slightly trimmed, allowing the beak to be able to grow back, like you would a dogs nails.

 

[ImAngel]

Horrible!! I didnt realize they did this sort of things to chickens too. Im big time into parrots and know alot about the aweful things that happens to them.

No debeaking gonna happen here.

which leads me to another question, you mention beak triming....can a chickens beak become over grown and need grooming/ filing like a parrot? Probabley a stupid question, sorry if it is.

Angel

 

[silkiechicken]

If the chickens live outside and get to scratch and run around, they do their own daily filing in the dirt. If they are caged or shown alot in cages without dirt, they can need trimming because their beaks don't stop growing.

 

[ImAngel]

ok good! Then I shouldnt have to worry about that. Thank you