Seeing blood on your chickens can be alarming for anyone raising these birds. If you own chickens and notice blood on their beaks, figuring out what the issue is is of utmost importance. This article looks into why your chicken’s beak is bleeding and how to stop it.

Your bird’s beak can bleed because of a number of reasons, these include fighting between other birds, underlying health issues, self-inflicted trauma, it has injured another bird, or because you trimmed the beak with a blade that is too hot or too cold

Reasons why your chicken’s beak is bleeding

A chicken’s beak contains a surprisingly high amount of blood vessels, so, if the beak is injured then it may bleed quite a lot.

An injury can make it difficult for birds to eat, this is why it is necessary to keep an eye on the beak at all times. Reasons, why your chicken’s beak is bleeding, include: 

Fighting:

The most likely reason why your chicken’s beak may be bleeding is that it was injured as a result of being in a fight. If other birds are also injured and bleeding, then fighting is likely the cause of the issue.

Signs of a fight on other birds include missing feathers and bleeding combs.

Self inflicted trauma:

Chickens can accidentally inflict trauma on themselves, if other chickens in the coop are not damaged, then this likely is the reason why your chicken’s beak is bleeding.

If this is the case, the chicken that is bleeding may have suffered some sort of trauma like blunt force trauma when it hit an inanimate object. They may have also even fallen somewhere or bruised it looking for something 

Injuring others:

The bird may have blood on its beak, but this may not be because it has been injured, but because it has injured another bird.

If the bird has been pecking a small and weaker bird’s feathers, then the blood of the smaller bird can be transferred onto your bird. Small birds can’t defend themselves well and may suffer a lot from this.

Incorrect beak trimming:

Sometimes the bird’s beak can start bleeding because you trimmed it incorrectly. Beak trimming may be helpful to the bird, but only if you do this correctly. If you trim the bird’s beak with a blade that is too hot or too cold, then the bird’s beak can start to bleed

Fast beak growth:

If the bird’s beak is growing too fast, it can cause issues. Beaks grow throughout the bird’s lifetime, if it grows too fast, and doesn’t wear out quickly enough, then the beak can break and bleed as a result of a very minor injury.

Illness:

If the chicken’s beak is not only bleeding, but looks different, then this is a cause for concern. The reason why this is happening can be an underlying health issue like liver problems, nutritional deficiencies, or cancer.

If your bird’s beak looks different, you may want to have the bird checked at a vet.

Mites:

This is another reason your bird’s beak may be very weak and break. Mites can cause the bird’s beak to weaken. This weakened beak can break and start bleeding. A vet will be able to check for mites as well

How do you stop a chicken beak from bleeding? 

The first thing that you should do to stop and help the bleeding chicken is to get the area clean, this will keep it from becoming infected.

You can do it by using Vetericyn on the beak, Vetericyn will keep the beak from becoming infected and it will also help the beak heal. Any other antimicrobial spray can also be used on the bird’s beak

After spraying the beak, you’d need to dress the beak, this will help it stop bleeding and allow it to start to heal, that is if the bird has injured itself.

If the bird has injured another bird, wipe the blood off of the attacking bird and address the attacked bird’s injuries. Keep these birds separated from the flock so that the injured bird can recuperate and the attacking bird does not harm another bird.

If the injured bird cannot use its beak the next day, that is, it can’t eat without assistance and without hesitation, then you would need to take the bird to a vet.

Do chicken beaks heal?

Chicken beaks do heal, as long as the bird is under the right conditions their beaks can heal pretty quickly. You’d want to remove the injured chicken from the other chickens and wrap the injured beak to jump-start the healing process.

The chicken’s beak will be able to heal in about one month. In order for the beak to heal properly, the bird needs to get an adequate supply of food and water and should be checked on a regular basis

What do I do if my chicken’s comb is bleeding? 

If the reason behind a bleeding comb is that the bird was fighting with another, then you would need to separate the two birds to ensure that they do not get into a fight again.

After this, you should clean the combs, wrap them, and let the birds heal in separate locations

Conclusion 

In conclusion, reasons why your chicken’s beak may be bleeding could be that it was injured in a fight, it could be that you trimmed the bird using a blade that was too hot or too cold, could be that that the chicken pecked another bird, the bleeding may be an underlying health issue, or, it could simply mean that the beak is overgrown and is breaking and bleeding

The best course of action to help your bleeding bird is to separate the bird from the rest of the flock, wrap the beak up, and keep it separated giving it time and space to heal, this healing may take about a month.

If the bird’s beak is bleeding because of a health issue, then you may want to consider taking the bird to a vet 

If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other chicken related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Chicken is puffed up not moving and lethargic, reasons why this happens, How to make eggshells stronger, methods that make a big difference,  What do chickens do when they are scared? An ultimate guide, Anti pecking spray for chickens, do you need it? Which is best