"Almost all hens kept for laying eggs have their beaks trimmed when they are small chicks. It is generally done with an electric machine that uses a hot blade to cut off half the upper beak and about one third of the lower beak of the young chick (how many of them actually die from shock during the operation is not currently known)." The photo is from Liberation BC.
And here is how it's done:
I [Masson] have asked farmers who debeak about the procedure and have been told it is like humans cutting their fingernails. But this is manifestly untrue. There are no nerve endings in my fingernails, while there are many in the beaks of hens. A more accurate comparison would be to liken the procedure to cutting off the tip of my finger. Zoologist F.W. Roger] Brambell said so in no uncertain terms, and as far as I know no scientist has ever contradicted his observation: 'Between the horn and bone [of the beak] is a thin layer of highly sensitive soft tissue, resembling the quick of the human nail. The hot knife blade used in debeaking cuts through this complex horn, bone and sensitive tissue causing severe pain.'
The nerve endings do grow back, but because of the trauma inflicted on them, they grow into what is known as a neuroma--a tangled mass of nerve fibers and surrounding scar tissue that often weeps discharge. Since the tip of the beak is richly innervated and has pain receptors in the same way that our hands do, both acute ad chronic pain is the inevitable result of debeaking."
Will that be sunnyside or easy over?
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