You ever have a hen who has a beak that seems to delaminate and soften? This is a first for me.

She’s in good spirits, doesn’t seem to be in pain, and forages a lot. But, she can’t seem to grab much food in her beak - especially no grass.

She can get some layer crumbles and mealworms but not as much or as easily as in the past. I’ve been weighing her the past four days and she’s hasn’t lost a noticeable amount of weight. But, yesterday I also started supplementing her with moistened layer crumbles (offered separately from the others) and she devours it. It seems to only be the upper beak, the tip of which appears to have broken off yesterday afternoon.

Today I got a vitamin mix (couldn’t hurt?) named “Nutri-Drench” and added that on top of the moistened crumbles.

Just curious since I’ve never seen this before.

  • clif@lemmy.worldOP
    3·
    1 year ago

    Yes - it’s just the hard part of the beak and not even 100% of it. The… root? where it connects to soft tissue appears to be fine. My understanding is that beaks can regrow, more or less like human fingernails, so long as the soft tissue it grows from isn’t damaged.

    We’ll just keep doing what we’re doing and giving her extra attention, then see how it turns out.

    Thanks!