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:

  • A pair of dog or cat nail clippers.
  • A nail file.
  • Blood stop, cayenne pepper, or flour.
  • A towel for your lap.
  • A chair or stool to sit on.

    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

    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
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