Hi Everyone! Looking for tips on anything I can do for my Araucana hen who has a deformed beak. She can eat from deep feeders but can't pick anything up off the ground. The top crosses over the bottom and has a large gap between the two. She's about 4 months old. Can the top be clipped w/o hurting her. Thanks all.
Deformed Beak
If they are not too bad you can sometimes file it with an emery board
generally we destroy any with it in case its hereditary
Hello Crested,
I just spoke with a friend who does the same thing, with the file that is.
The beak wasn't like this when I picked her out of the batch of chicks. Just developed as time went on. Can it still be hereditary?
I unfortunately, have to keep getting rid of my roosters because I can't have any where I live, so there are no fertilized eggs.
How much can be filed before it reaches the area that bleeds?
Does it hurt them or is it like a fingernail?
Thanks for the response.
Yes its like a fingernail and there is a quick in it like a dogs nail
yes it can still be heriditary,but if it came from an incubator sometimes that was the problem
We just don't take that chance
I've never tried it but I know of some people who use a dremmel to cut the beak
It cauterizes it so there is no blood
I've used it with my parrots and dogs nails but not on a chicken
What does Hereditary mean?
Hereditary means it runs in the family, that the trait can be passed on to the chicks from the parents.
OOOh, ok thanx.
NowRot? Update? Did you do anything to the beak? Is she OK?
Misfit, as we now call her, seems to be doing ok. I now suspect she had an injury ie broken jaw (?) that caused this. The top beak is somewhat straight, the bottom one is cocked off to the side and she doesn't seem to have much movement with it. The tongue always seems dried out which is concerning. She was always a skittish girl, making it hard to get her but lately has started following me around a lot lately. She follows me around now, checking out what I'm doing. She is drinking, and I keep the feed dish deep so she gets food. I may start weighing her to see if she's getting enough feed. I'm gonna go out in a bit to take a photo and will send it tonight. See if you all think I should still try to file it down, etc.
Thanks for asking