[The Goods]

Can anyone please advise on two of my girls beaks?  To of my ex bat girls seem to have much longer lower beaks than the top.  It looks like their top beaks have been cut prior to us getting them.

Although they seem to eat ok, I watch them eat and their lower part seems to be a problem.  One girl in particular, when pecking up feed she cant quite grasp it as due to the lower part sticking out about 5mm more than the top one.

I researched vets in this area, Sidcup, to try to find a poultry vet, finally found one, so made an appointment and took two of my girls.

OMG it was awful.  The vet attempted to cut the lower beak of Doris, even though I asked, "what about the blood line".  My poor girl screamed out with blood dripping onto the floor.  She tried to stop the blood with a cotton bud which did nothing. 

I took her home, not knowing what to do, my OH is away so could not ask him for help.  Eventually it did stop bleeding, but the vet only nipped the end off.

Did i do the right thing in taking her to the vet in the first place?  Is this what they usually do?  It seemed barbaric.

Is there nothing else that can be done for over grown beaks, other that clipping them?  I wont be going back to that vet again.

[Casey76]

Your hen doesn't have an overgrown beak.  The battery hens have their top beak cauterised at a day old so it doesn't grow as far as the lower beak.  So in actual fact it is the top beak which is "deformed"

The majority of battery hens are like this, because the cautery causes a permanent injury to the "quick" of the beak.

It is also another reason why battery hens are fed mash rather than pellets, because they find mash easier to eat.

If your hens only have a 5mm difference then they are quite lucky, as I have actually seen far worse

You shouldn't touch the lower beak any more, as this is the "natural" length of the beak.  if she starts to get ridges along the edges of the beak, these can be filed away with an emery board.