Anything I can do about my chickens beaks? Underbite!

[IkeO]

My wife and I just got our first flock! We got them raised to 4 months from a hatchery. They are great and every day they are becoming braver and more 'chicken-like'. However our two best birds have serious beak issues and I'm really worried about them. In our excitement to receive our first flock we really didn't pay attention to their beaks until we were halfway home. "Waffles", is totally our coolest most interesting chicken and she has the worst beak and I feel really bad for her. through some research I realized that they must have been debeaked as chicks at the hatchery.


(


^ terrible underbite

They seem really happy and can all eat feed and drink water but I am starting to notice they cant pick up seeds and forage very well.

Is there anything I can do about this?! Will their beaks even out over time? they have plenty of dirt, rocks and concrete to scrape.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as we are new to having chickens.

 

[QueenMisha]

As far as I know, chicks can sometimes grow back their beaks, but at this age it's going to stick for life. Most hatcheries only debeak chicks if requested, but I believe their pullets are raised in a semi-intensive system, so they are debeaked to prevent customers from receiving bare, picked-out birds. While they should be able to pick up food from a feeder fine, I agree that this will definitely impact their ability to forage or eat from the ground. Scratch and other treats should be mixed with their regular ration so they can be scooped directly from the feeder.

 

[Eggcessive]

Yes, unfortunately it looks like they were debeaked. You might try pellets to see if they can pick those up easier. Also you could use a deep sided bowl for a feeder, and sometimes try putting a little water in the feed to make it like oatmeal. If you do that, be sure and wash out the bowl daily to prevent mold.