# Baby chicks with broken/chipped beak tips



## Marina

Any help/advice would be much appreciated! I have 8 baby chicks about 2.5-3 weeks old. Starting yesterday I noticed that two of them had chipped the tips off of both there upper and lower beaks. Today I noticed that two more also have chips, one is just the upper beak (looks to be the worst) and the another is both upper lower again. This is my first time with baby chicks. They all still seem happy and are eating and drinking. 5 of the chicks are ISA Browns and 3 are Light Brahmas. The 4 with chipped beaks are all ISA Browns. Their brooder is a small baby pool with chicken wire across the top. I've searched the internet and can't find much info on this, some articles say the beaks will grow back and some say they won't. Hoping someone has had experience with this and can offer some advice! I posted pictures of the one with the worst break (just the upper) and one that has both upper/lower but not too bad. Thank you!


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## robin416

I will admit I've never heard of a bunch of chicks with broken/chipped beaks. Chickens can and do break their beaks at times, most of the time if the break doesn't go all the way to the quick the beak will grow back. 

What puzzles me is that why all the same breed? Is there a genetic issue that is making their beaks more brittle? 

What are you feeding them?


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## robin416

https://www.petmd.com/bird/conditions/traumatic/broken-and-injured-beak-birds

Scroll down, there is a section that you might find interesting.

Something else I read said it could be coming from pen mates, can you divide the swimming pool and keep the two breeds apart?


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## Marina

I agree that it is strange that it’s only the one breed. I did notice that the ISA beak tips looked more brittle/dry/different colored while the brahmas are all smooth and even tone looking. 

I’ve just been giving them a chick starter/grower and Just gave them a little yogurt for the first time today as a treat and they loved it. Thought it might help the ones with the chipped beaks to eat something soft.

Thank you for the article.

I can try to put something up to divide the brooder and see if that helps. 
Thank you!


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## robin416

I would also look at the possibility that they have a vitamin deficiency. It's not truly uncommon for it to be an issue with young peeps. You can give each of the Asa's a single drop of Poly Vi Sol childrens vitamins without iron once a day for a couple of weeks to see if that makes things better.


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## Marina

I’ll definitely look into that as well thank you.


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## dawg53

I recommend that you put the chick starter feed in a deep bowl and add warm water to make a watery gruel for the chick to eat. (Not cold or cool water, and not hot.) The bowl must be deep enough so that the beak doesnt come in contact with the bottom of the bowl which is a hard surface to cause pain or bleeding.

The water will be absorbed by the feed during the day and you'll have to add warm water on occasion. The gruel will be easier for her to eat and you can add a couple drops of poultry nutri drench in it as well. A new upper beak will grow under the old beak. In a full grown hen, it takes about 3-4 weeks to regrow.

Once you see the new beak emerging, put a few dry chick crumbles on a hard surface and watch and see if she can pick them up. If she is unable to pick the crumbles up, even one, or drop one after she picks the crumble up, continue with the gruel for another week. Once she is able to pick up the crumbles without dropping them, remove the gruel, she's good to eat normally. Make a fresh mixture of gruel daily, if you dont it can sour.


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## Marina

Thank you so much! I’ll give that a try.


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## Marina

They are absolutely loving the gruel. Thank you for the advice. The one with only the upper beak broken has had the hardest time eating and picking things up and I can tell she is very excited about this.


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## robin416

That's great. Now to solve the mystery about why the beaks are like they are.


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## janamsingh

Marina said:


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> Any help/advice would be much appreciated! I have 8 baby chicks about 2.5-3 weeks old. Starting yesterday I noticed that two of them had chipped the tips off of both there upper and lower beaks. Today I noticed that two more also have chips, one is just the upper beak (looks to be the worst) and the another is both upper lower again. This is my first time with baby chicks. They all still seem happy and are eating and drinking. 5 of the chicks are ISA Browns and 3 are Light Brahmas. The 4 with chipped beaks are all ISA Browns. Their brooder is a small baby pool with chicken wire across the top. I've searched the internet and can't find much info on this, some articles say the beaks will grow back and some say they won't. Hoping someone has had experience with this and can offer some advice! I posted pictures of the one with the worst break (just the upper) and one that has both upper/lower but not too bad. Thank you!


i have never heard of this before in my life. 
but i think that for a baby chicken, its entire body is brittle and since we can have a baby chicken loosing his/her foot because of an injury, same could be the case of the beak (after all beak is also brittle as feet).
plus i just noticed that (in the background) your floor seems to be hard. are you guys keeping these chicks indoor? maybe they are trying to eat something from the hard floor and in the process the hard floor is causing their weak tiny beaks to break. 

but the most amazing thing about these beautiful small creatures is that they are not beauty conscious. if they are well fed and feel healthy, they would be happy. so even if they have lost their beaks partly, i pray that they just stay healthy and you are able to find some remedy for them. and consider that floor as well. maybe the hard floor is causing this


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## dawg53

in commercial egg operations the upper beak is sliced back to prevent pecking other birds while caged. I dont know at what age they do this, perhaps at point of lay.
Broken beaks are 99% caused by injuries. Anything else would be severe vitamin deficiency.


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## Marina

janamsingh said:


> i have never heard of this before in my life.
> but i think that for a baby chicken, its entire body is brittle and since we can have a baby chicken loosing his/her foot because of an injury, same could be the case of the beak (after all beak is also brittle as feet).
> plus i just noticed that (in the background) your floor seems to be hard. are you guys keeping these chicks indoor? maybe they are trying to eat something from the hard floor and in the process the hard floor is causing their weak tiny beaks to break.
> 
> but the most amazing thing about these beautiful small creatures is that they are not beauty conscious. if they are well fed and feel healthy, they would be happy. so even if they have lost their beaks partly, i pray that they just stay healthy and you are able to find some remedy for them. and consider that floor as well. maybe the hard floor is causing this


They are being kept inside for now but always in their brooder which is a small baby pool filled with soft wood shavings and chicken wire across the top. I thought it was from injury but cant figure out what would cause it.
I am leaning towards some sort of vitamin deficiency now because its only the one breed that it happened too, all 5 chicks now. The 3 of the other breed have perfect healthy look beaks. They still all seem to be content and eating/drinking regularly!


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## robin416

Are you giving them the vitamins? I suspect that the breeder parents are the reason you're dealing with this. If you can get them past this hurdle they should be OK. You just don't want one of the beaks breaking all the way down at the quick. Those won't come back.

Are they still digging their wet food?


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## TomC

Interesting read. We have a little polish that we call "Chip". When we first got her home, I thought her beak was chipped, but on closer inspection found that she has a bit of a scissor beak. I've read that it can possibly get worse as she ages and may even need surgery to correct. But she is eating, drinking, and growing just fine and it doesn't seem to be getting any worse. We will keep an eye on her though to make sure she continues to do ok.


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## robin416

Get me a pic of her Tom. I might be able to guide you through her issues. There are two types, injury or genetic. Injury is simple to deal with. Genetic is a real challenge.


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## TomC

I'll try to get a pic of her tomorrow.


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## robin416

That's fine. I'll be gone a large part of the day tomorrow.


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## Conny

I seem to be having the same problem with my almost 2 week old chicks. We've raised chicks several times before and we have never seen this or have had any issues. Very strange! I've also made the gruel for them. They seem happy and content. If it is some sort of deficiency, does anyone have a product to recommend?


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## robin416

Weird, you never hear of this happening then there are two fairly close together. I wonder if something is going on at the hatcheries. 

You can give each a drop of Polyvisol without iron once a day. Or there is Savachick vitamins. There is Rooster Booster but that one has stuff in it that could upset their GI tracts. 

Unfortunately since the OP never got back to us we don't know how her chicks faired.


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## Sylie

As long as they are eating and drinking without any problems, I wouldn't worry too much at this point, it is POSSIBLE it will grow itself out as they get older. If not, you may find that they have troubles eating grass, weeds etc but there are ways around it. Let us know if that becomes an issue.


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## Sylie

As long as they are eating and drinking without any problems, I wouldn't worry too much at this point, it is POSSIBLE it will grow itself out as they get older. If not, you may find that they have troubles eating grass, weeds etc but there are ways around it. Let us know if that becomes an issue.


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## Conny

robin416 said:


> Weird, you never hear of this happening then there are two fairly close together. I wonder if something is going on at the hatcheries.
> 
> You can give each a drop of Polyvisol without iron once a day. Or there is Savachick vitamins. There is Rooster Booster but that one has stuff in it that could upset their GI tracts.
> 
> Unfortunately since the OP never got back to us we don't know how her chicks faired.


Thank you for your feedback. I'll look into your suggestions. I agree this is very strange. I have had chickens all my life and this is the first time I have seen this!


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## Conny

Sylie said:


> As long as they are eating and drinking without any problems, I wouldn't worry too much at this point, it is POSSIBLE it will grow itself out as they get older. If not, you may find that they have troubles eating grass, weeds etc but there are ways around it. Let us know if that becomes an issue.


I will, thanks! So far they seem to be doing well. I will keep a close eye on them and post if I have any more issues. I am also hoping the beaks grow back enough for them to have a normal life!


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## robin416

If they don't break back to the quick they should grow back.


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## Marina

Hi all sorry for the delayed reply we’ve had a busy few weeks! 
I didn’t end up trying and vitamins or supplements but just continued with the gruel until they were almost 8 weeks or so. Most of the beaks grew back and are doing great. One of my girls, Penny, is the only one with a noticeable chip still on the upper but it doesn’t seem to slow her down one bit. Will try and post picture when I get home this evening!


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## robin416

The whole thing is so odd. And we'll never know why it happened. Maybe the gruel had them eating better and that was enough to increase the intake of the vitamins and minerals to correct their issues.

That might be something for others struggling to raise chicks to know. I've always kept Kaytee Hand Rearing formula for those types of issues. 

Thanks for the good news.


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