Trim a Beak

Trimming a Chickens' Beak for Shows

It's not hard to trim your chickens beak, as long as you

take your time. This article will show you how.

What

you'll need:

Remove the chicken whose beak you wish to trim from its

pen. Sit on a chair or stool in a bright place with your

tools assembled near you. Put a towel over your lap to

keep yourself clean, and to wrap the bird in if needed.

Open your chicken's mouth gently, by pressing on the

sides of the mouth. Sometimes you must hold their heads,

as some birds don't like having their beaks clipped. With

male birds that have larger combs, you can hold onto the

comb with one hand and clip with the other.

Using the dog or cat clippers, gently clip a small amount

of the top half of the beak (the bottom half generally

doesn't need to be trimmed.) Doing this in small steps

works best, you don't want to go too far, as beaks have a

"quick" just like toes on a dog or cat. In some birds you

can see the quick, in those with darker beaks you cannot.

Clip the top half of the beak squarely, so that it is just

slightly longer than the bottom half. Then take your nail

file, and gently round the edges so that it follows the

natural shape of the beak. You can follow up with a slight

polish of baby oil if you'd like, but it's not required to do

so.

If you cut too far and the beak starts to bleed, gather

some Styptic Powder, Blood Stop, cayenne pepper, or

flour in your fingers and place it against the bleeding end.

You will need to apply pressure here for several minutes,

you don't want to put a bleeding bird back in a pen with

other birds, who might attack it when they see blood

(chickens can be like that!)

Trimming Chickens' Beaks

A properly trimmed beak