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[GillC]

Patsy, one of my first hens, is now about 2 and a half. She seems healthy, although she has become more quiet over the past few months. However her beak has grown in a bizarre way and I was wondering if anybody had experienced this.

Her lower beak has grown extremely long, with a groove at its end, and her top beak has become shorter and shorter.

 

She doesn't appear to be having problems eating so I'm tempted to leave it. It does look odd mind. Has enyone seen this before?

[Jools]

It's the result of some drastic beak trimming. My first two hens had it too. I used to trim up the bottom beak a little as they struggled to feed properly.

[GillC]

It's the result of some drastic beak trimming. My first two hens had it too. I used to trim up the bottom beak a little as they struggled to feed properly.

 

That's what you might have thought, but do they trim them themselves? I've never seen any aggression between her and her two pals, but could they be doing it?

 

When she arrived 2 years ago, her top beak was much longer. Could the top one be withering?

 

If I trim the bottom one a bit, might that encourage the top one to grow?

 

My friend has chickens with gorgeous beaks I'm getting beak envy

[The Dogmother]

If you get the vet to trim the bottom beak, then the top one ought to grow back over time.

[Jools]

That's what you might have thought, but do they trim them themselves? I've never seen any aggression between her and her two pals, but could they be doing it?

 

When she arrived 2 years ago, her top beak was much longer. Could the top one be withering?

 

If I trim the bottom one a bit, might that encourage the top one to grow?

 

My friend has chickens with gorgeous beaks I'm getting beak envy

 

With mine, the top beak had been trimmed when they were chicks and it never re-grew, if anything, the top got shorter. The bottom beak was untrimmed and grew longer, presumably because it never got worn away. We just trimmed the bottom beak each year very, very carefully to even them up a little. They really seemed to struggle to eat as their bottom beaks got longer and top beaks got shorter. They didn't do it themselves, I think it was just some kind of natural progression resulting from the initial beak trimming.

 

They always looked as though they were pouting, which was quite endearing, but needless to say I didn't return to that supplier.

[The Dogmother]

If the top beak was trimmed poorly or severely, then the growth plate might have been damaged and it may not grow back properly

[GillC]

Many thanks for all the replies. It does seem as if the growing lower beak may have interfered with the normal development of the top beak.

 

I got the hens from omlet so I wouldn't have expected them to have beak-trims. I've just looked back over the photos I took of them when they arrived and Patsy's top beak was a couple of millimeters shorter than her lower beak, but the top beak still came to a normal looking point. She just seemed to have a slight under-bite. The other hen had a perfect beak.

 

Whatever the reason, it looks like I need to take action to shorten the lower beak a little.

 

I'm pretty confident handling my chickens and would like to trim the beak myself (with the aid of my trusted assistant to hold the bird on his lap whilst I take care of things).

 

Can you recommend the best way to do this?

 

Particularly, what is the best tool, and is it best to trim approaching the beak from the side, or approaching it from above or below. Should it be trimmed in little nibbles, working slowly from one side of the beak to the other, rather like trimming finger nails, or all in one go, as if trimming rabbit's claws?

[The Dogmother]

Please be very careful when you do this - the quick runs very close to the tip and if you nick it, it will bleed copiously! From one who knows...... Even my vet has done this once, luckily he has a silver nitrate pencil to cauterise it.

[GillC]

Please be very careful when you do this - the quick runs very close to the tip and if you nick it, it will bleed copiously! From one who knows...... Even my vet has done this once, luckily he has a silver nitrate pencil to cauterise it.

 

For some reason, I just developed images of myself manicuring Patsy's beak with an emery board!

 

I'll have a close watch of her to see how she's eating. I can't say for sure if she is having trouble or not, probably because mostly they come running up when they see me rather than eat. I'll give her a good feel all over to see if she's getting thin under all those feathers and watch how she eats before I take any drastic action.

[Jools]

We did our's ourselves - I held the victim and the husband did the cutting. Very, very carefully, bit by bit works. You won't get close to evening up the top and bottom, but you can make the bottom a bit less tube like so she finds it easy to grip when pecking. Good luck and enjoy your pouty girl!

[GillC]

We did our's ourselves - I held the victim and the husband did the cutting. Very, very carefully, bit by bit works. You won't get close to evening up the top and bottom, but you can make the bottom a bit less tube like so she finds it easy to grip when pecking. Good luck and enjoy your pouty girl!

 

Can I ask you what you used? I've always used a pair of gardening seccateurs for rabbit and guinea-pig nails.

[The Dogmother]

You'd need a very sharp pair of clippers a bit like these

 

[Jools]

Can I ask you what you used? I've always used a pair of gardening seccateurs for rabbit and guinea-pig nails.

 

We used some small wire cutters from hubby's vast tool box. The same ones we use to trim my ancient bantam hen's exceedingly long spurs every year!

[Egluntyne]

I used some strong nail clippers when I did this. Just nibble the tiniest bits off until it seems right.

[GillC]

Thanks for all the advice - especially for the clear pic Claret That's really helpful.

 

I checked Patsy over yesterday to see if she was getting thin under her magnificent coat of fluffy feathers but she feels perfectly normal so I don't think she's wasting away. I think she can eat from the grub containers quite well, but probably has trouble picking up the little treats. In fact, this probably does her good (although I doubt that she thinks so) as the pellets are more nutritious. I will trim the lower beak, but I'm going to take my time and make sure I get some nice strong clippers like in the photo.

 

Oh what fun we shall have