chick with hooked beak

[ashley]

Hi All, hope someone can shed some light on this one for me.

This was my first attempt at hatching eggs in an incubator, the chicks are 6 weeks old now and all look healthy and happy except for one of them who looks a bit odd.

'She' has a really pronounced hook on the end of her beak, much more that any of my other chicks, and much more than any photos of other people chicks that I've seen. She's almost totally feathered up but all of her feathers look damaged, the ribs are split, they look like really old feathers do. She is a little bit smaller that the other Coronation Sussex that hatched at the same time, but looking a their comb development and behaviour I suspect that the other one is a rooster and she is a hen.

Of the 6 chicks in the group she is in the bottom half of the pecking order, but she doesn't feel too skinny, I'm pretty certain she's getting enough to eat.

I'm wondering if it's a genetic defect, of if she's lacking a particular vitamin or something?

Thanks as always.

Ashley

[annieyokie]

In my opinion it could be either .Possibly a weak egg ,some slight deficiency in the mum and that was the egg that went without , :oextra minerals now cant hurt.

If it is genetic she should be fine laying eggs to eat, but I wouldn't breed from her either way.
Iv had frizzles with beak problems and I'm sure they are genetic ,slightly twisted like the feathers .Some others may be able to shine some more light on the subject.
.
Ive also got a Plymouth rock pullet who is half the size of the others that are the same age .I got the eggs from the east and they assure me they don't have bantam PR's .Weak chick/egg???
I give her extras its strong and healthy just tiny.I wont breed from her.

[jacquie]

for some reason at some stage she hasn't been eating as well as the other chicks, which has meant her beak isn't being worn down.....................which leads to it being big enough over the top to interfere with the eating process. without seeing a picture i can imagine it has a clear bit where it overhangs teh rest of teh beak...............this can be carefully trimmed off with a pair of scissors like fingernails. this is not the same as debeaking birds.................its just taking the excess off the end which will enable her to eat properly. i hope i have described it well. the excess beak is stopping her from picking up food properly and therefore she is losing weight and the other symptoms you have described...........the scruffy feathers, beign smaller than her siblings.

give it a go, it won't hurt her and could well fix her.

[annieyokie]

Hi Jacquie
dose that work with twisted beaks ?
If so how far can you clip then back? I'm presuming you have to just get the tip and miss the nerve area .

[ashley]

Thanks for the ideas, clipping her beak makes sense, but sounds a bit scary, how hard is the beak? I'm thinking it'll be a bit like cutting a thick toe nail or my dogs claws? I'll have a go with the dogs nail clippers tonight.

I've attached a picture to give you a better idea of the problem, she's the one in the front. She's not actually that much smaller than the other one, I let them out to free range today and he was standing up-hill from her under the bushes in the backyard.

[jacquie]

i don't know if it would work for a twisted beak. it is quite clear on an overhang beak usually there is a clearer area like on your fingernails. its best when you are cutting them back to just trim a tiny bit at a time, usually you can see quite clearly the bit that you can cut. its hard to explain without a photo, and i don't know if i have any birds with overgrown beaks to photograph at the moment. on some soil types or when the bird is kept in a caged environment the beak is likely to grow fast. in some birds the beak grows faster than on other birds, and can interfere with the bird being able to pick up food properly as it stops the pincer type action of the beak from operating properly. much less commonly the bottom beak may be longer, but this usually only occurs if there has been some physical injury to the tup beak. the normal pecking on the ground etc usually wears the beak down.

you only want to clip the tip and not hit the quick or the nerve area at all.



in the above picture you can see a very faint line growing around the end of the hen's beak...you can see that it is clear like human fingernails. if this were longer it could be, and indeed should be, trimmed off to enable the bird to eat properly.

in this picture
you can see the start of the overhang of the top beak more clearly, this bird would soon be due for a trim.

edited to try and get second picture to show.

[jacquie]

hi ashley you posted while i was posting hehe,

she looks like a trim would be helpful, you can see through to the clear bits on hte end of her beak, but her top beak indeed does have a hook in it :S but i can see clear beak which i would trim off.

[jacquie]

ps a pair of sharp scissors does the trick, its like cutting fingernails, if its harder to cut than that you are trying to cut off too much beak lol

[ashley]

Thanks jacquie, you've explained it really well! It sounds easier than I initially thought. I'll let you know how it goes tonight... it's too hot to go chasing her around the yard now ;-)

[ashley]

Quick update, I trimmed her beak last night, in the end it was really quite easy and she held nice and still for me too.

Here she is again, he beak is still quite 'hooky' but it's a lot better than it was, there is about 1mm of clear on the end now. I bought her in for a private feed tonight to try and beef her up again... until yesterday I hadn't heald any other the others for over a week.... she's actually quite a lot lighter than they are but they arn't actively picking on her so I'm going to leave her with them most of the time and just give her a feed by herself in the cat carrier morning and night...hopefully it'll be enough for her to pep-up.


cheers

ashley

[ashley]

ps - I just realised that you can see my inside cat Sam in the background checking out the chicken food in the carrier while I took photos :-)

[jacquie]

that cheeky sam cat! it looks alot better and she should be able to feed more easily. you might need to keep an eye on it and trim it again at some stage, but hopefully she will attackk her food with gusto and it will be ok.

[ashley]

Hi guys, just wondering if anyones got any other ideas for "Hooky".

Since I trimmed her beak I've been bringing her in twice a day for a feed of rickets diet, or sometimes if I'm disorganised in the morning just some mashed up boiled egg... just to get her bulked up a bit.

Anyway, I was hoping to eventually wean her of the extra feeds but when ever I collect her from outside her crop is always empty... the others arn't nasty to her, I think she just can't keep up with them. I've been trying to avoid seperating her all together because I've ready that a chook kept alone long term gets depressed which makes them less likely to get well but I can't think of any other options.

oh, also, I think it is a birth defect (or should I say 'hatch defect') that caused the original condition, as well has her very hooky beak one eye lid a bit deformed, it's not infected or weepy or anything but she tends to keep it closed a lot. Also her wing and tail feathers are a bit twisty, almost like very mild frizzling and she was one of two chicks who's toes I had to split... she is however turning into a very freindly chook who (much to the disgust of hubby) sits with me to watch tv for a bit after she has her special feed each night.

thanks

Ashley

[renochicken]

Hi folks. I'm new to this board. I have a 3-wk Ameraucana pullet with a hooked beak that is now apparently preventing her from shutting her beak. She appears to be eating OK. Was there any further thought on the success of trimming a beak? I'll try to post a photo.

[beck]

Hi ashley i had a chhok with a beak issue and after i trimmed it i filed it down just a touch once a week to bring it back to what it should have been ( oh and p.s i used a metal file my hubby had in the shed ..i am not too sure what it's actual use is but it is long and skinny and a bit thinner than a ruler ) just cover her eyes with a tea towel as she will not be happy it makes a nasty noise !!
best of luck