Cross Beak Chicken Food

[UniqueMeat]

So right now I am feeding my 2-4 month old chicken, Forrest, a cross beak chicken, some chicken feed with water soaked into it so it's easier for her to eat. Most of the time, I add spinach (tear a leaf of it up and add it in) or cherries (without the pit) but she is still small and she's going to be laying soon!

What can I add to her food that might speed up her growth and give her tons of nutrition, etc.


And about the water: she was severe cross beak, which means drinking isn't on the list for easy. I have gotten her to drink, but she only has ONE EYE! so that means whenever water splashes, she's scared of it. I have tried a dropper, a straw (held the top so the water stayed inside) and even a hose (lightly holding the nozzle so it drips) and she won't do anything!

she's interested in my finger, so she only drinks when I hold my finger in the water, but that won't do. does anybody have a way for a disabled chicken to drink with SEVERE cross beak?



Thanks in advance, and I wish you all a good day!

 

[pdirt]

Do a search for "cross beak diary" for a good thread on the subject.

We had one cross beak (very mild compared to yours) and while she lived for a while and even laid eggs for a while, we finally realized she wasn't thriving. The cross beak was not very visible as a chick, but seemed to get worse over time. She stopped laying eggs (at about 20 months...it wasn't a molt, she had already done that), continued to get skinnier and overall looked worse. We fed fermented food, which was the only way she could really eat and even still she wasn't getting enough. We were not about to start extreme measures like tube feeding. We decided the most humane thing to do was to cull her. What we will probably do in the future is cull them as soon as we realize they are cross beak. It seems to be the most humane way to go than subject them to a life in which they are basically always starved.

 

[UniqueMeat]

Okay. Well she is getting worse, but she isn't getting enough water. Like, I have time to sit there and feed her with a bowl and let her peck for at least an hour.

But the water, it's not how long I hold it, it's how she's scared to put her beak in water.

 

[Percheron chick]

Try nipple waterers. I would second the fermented feed.

 

[pdirt]

Yes, our cross beak did okay with the nipple waterer. Be sure to use the vertical nipples (they hang from the underside of a bucket). The horizontal nipples didn't work for our cross beak.