Trimmed Beak

[cuwiar]

Hi,

We got three gorgeous girls last Saturday from a lovely breeder/hobbiest who occasionally gets pullets from a commercial seller. One of our girls (a barred rock - Mehefin) had the tip of her top beak trimmed and when I asked the lady we bought from she said it was because she had come from a commercial farmer and it wouldn't be a problem with foraging etc. She said it might grow back a little bit.

Mehefin is eating her pellets and drinking no problem and is ok with picking up most stuff of the floor but small pieces escape her!

The problem is that I think the beak is looking worse, the gap is getting bigger and looks a little bit split!! Will she be ok? She's bottom of the pack and seems generally healthy other than that!

Is there anything I can do!? :?

 

[chrismahon]

Hi Cuwiar. Commercial birds are reared in small spaces. The hens get terribly bored and resort to feather pecking and cannibalism. To stop this they are either fitted with a 'bit' which clips into the nose and stops them closing their beaks fully or the top beak is trimmed, some less skillfully than others. Our Annie Black Rock had her beak cut back heavily and it never grew back fully -she was bottom of the pack. The three others were trimmed less and they all grew back. The reason it looks worse is that the bottom beak is growing in preference at the moment but it should stabilise eventually. If it is splitting it may be signs of a lack of oils, vitamins or calcium in the diet so make sure you are using good quality feed.

 

[cuwiar]

Hi Chris,

Thank you for the guidance, they are on Smallholders Layers Pellets at the minute so the feed should be ok but they have only been having it for a few days so far! Is there any oils I can add that are recommended (other than cod liver - I will be introducing this soon!) They have oyster shell and grit and broccoli tops so the calcium levels should be ok and the past two days they have been having garlicky tonic water (Battles Poultry Drink) and soon Apple Cider Vinegar (I've been doing my homework and this site has been a great help!)

Could the cold spell we've had been making her beak split more (ie much like our hair and nails!) and can I do anything to protect it?

 

[jubilee]

Nothing you rub on her beak will do much good, she will undoubtedly rub it off on the floor, and the horn from which it's made isn't porous, so it wouldn't be absorbed. Their beaks are pretty hard, unlike our own nails, so not much gets in. It's best to come from within, from the inside. A good diet, with a few added poultry suppliments can only do good. ACV is excellant at helping the body to absorb more nutrients from the feed, along with codliver oil, only ACV isn't as fattening! Give her a few months of a good diet containing fresh greens, and a good quality balanced feed and she will begin to look and feel alot better. Beaks take a while to repair, she may never fully grow it back if they've cut it really short, but as she moults, she should regain some length to it. Just keep an eye on the bottom mandable (lower beak) to make sure it doesn't get too long, they wear their beaks down pecking through grit etc. on the ground. But with the top one being so short, it may make the bottom one grow longer as she's not using the two together as nature intended.

JubesXX

 

[cuwiar]

Thanks Jubilee - will just keep doing my best for her. It's mad how protective I feel of her in just a few days!

She's a shy girl and although one of the others has the best temperament - most placid and tame - it's Mehefin I'm most concerned about!

 

[Chuck]

Remember there are hundreds/thousands/millions of hens that have been de-beaked and come to no harm and are fed a basic diet of layers pellets/meal, water and grit. Too much additives do more harm than good in my opinion especially with hens that have been brought up without them (as commercially reared birds are). Sometimes the beaks split a bit and usually they repair as they grow. Keep a check on the lower beak and be prepared to trim/file it back a bit if nec. Many commercial rearers realising they are selling to the home/ hobby market only mildly de-beak their stock or not at all now.

 

[jubilee]

Normally i totally agree with the above post, too many addatives can cause problems, but ACV is a natural additive, and has many benefits to aid digestion, and improve general health, so at a dosage rate of 10mls per litre of water, it would be fine.
The amount of ex-bats i've seen and heard of with impacted crops due to new owners bomb-barding them with high protein pellets, fishmeal, cat food and long grass etc. to help them recover and have ended up doing the exact opposite is unreal, their poor little bodies just aren't used to rich, over the top diets, keep it simple, and basic.

JubesXX

 

[chrismahon]

You can buy special feed for ex-bats to give them time to get used to adjust to a better diet. Chuck is right about the widespread debeaking practice but I doubt the commercial operators care about the comfort of the bird so "they come to no harm" could be interpreted as "very few have died of it".

 

[Chuck]

Many commercial rearers have reacted to the fact that home keepers don't like to buy debeaked birds and sellers were getting left with stock which they found hard to move on so many are only mildly debeaked now.
Battery hens are not badly fed or they wouldn't lay as many eggs as they do. It's the cage conditions that are the problem, not the diet.

 

[jubilee]

Many commercial rearers have reacted to the fact that home keepers don't like to buy debeaked birds and sellers were getting left with stock which they found hard to move on so many are only mildly debeaked now.
Battery hens are not badly fed or they wouldn't lay as many eggs as they do. It's the cage conditions that are the problem, not the diet.

Absolutely, but they are normally fed straight layers mash, so the birds crop/gizzard muscles aren't as strong as birds who have been fed a varied diet of grass, greens and pellets. Mash is much cheaper to buy in commercial quantities, but it makes the digestive system lazy. So best to take things gradually in changing onto pellets and extras.

JubesX

 

[Chuck]

Exactly Jubes, which is why I keep banging on about not throwing all kinds of new foods at ex bats or indeed any bought in commercially reared birds. They need time to adjust.