#beak trimming
Scenes on the farm: most of the goats, a buckeye chicken with an overgrown beak before I clipped it, and Papa’s hair getting long! c:
July 25, 2017
How old is that chicken? Sensory nerves grow in a few weeks after hatching, beak clipping after that should be really painful :/
This chicken is three months old and this is an overgrowth which is fine (and necesarry) to cut. Chicken beaks continually grow and are worn down through use. If you watch chickens, they wipe their beaks on hard surfaces and file them. Occasionally beaks will out of control or in the case of this hen, grow faster than she can keep up (I’ve trimmed her three times between July and December).
If you were to look at the area trimmed and the piece that came off you’d see it’s just hard beak: there’s no nerves, no blood, no soft tissue. It’s the same as trimming a toenail. It’s impossible for a chicken to feel this because there is no nerves in the end of a beak, just like there’s none in the end of their talons or the outter part of a hoof. What you’re thinking of is debeaking, in the link there’s an image where you can clearly see the missing portion of the upper beak, whereas after trimming it just looks like a normal beak again. This is basic chicken care, Google “overgown chicken beak” so see how bad it can if left untreated.
I know the tags said you don’t want to see animals unnecessarily hurt, but an overgrown beak will prevent this bird from eating, drinking, and cause a horrible death by starvation.
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