Diary of a Crossbeak: Support for Special Needs Chickens and their Keepers

[brittfish]

Wishapup I'm sorry I didn't realize you posted both about your crossbeak and then about her passing away. I'm very sorry to hear that.

 

[artsyrobin]

she has to be cleaned pretty often, and the wet feed is like concrete if it dries- i worried having her outside, due to temps- now i don't know if i'd be able t have her and mumbles outside, they are very much a part of the family inside

 

[brittfish]

I agree! I had put her out with the others and she tried like heck to get back to me which made all the others go after her so yeah she's indoors. She loves the dog isn't 100% sure about our orange cat but is fine with the black ones. They don't care about her. I wipe her down and wash her feet under the faucet every night but her tongue is always exposed to the air it's like it dries out. I've put coconut oil on it before not sure if it helped at all.

 

[artsyrobin]

i am thinking if she is inside, you can keep a close watch on it- if you are on facebook, we have a crossbeak group going, love to have you pop in and say hi- i wonder if your girl would accept a bantam friend?

was looking at your girl, that makes 3 crossbeaks with that coloring besides my ginger- eerie

 

[Wishapup]

I'm so sorry for your loss. Do you know why she passed?

Thank you, I am not exactly sure. She was not acting ill the morning of the day she died but I hadn't been monitoring her weight very closely. I thought she was probably fine since she was already 8-9 months old and had always eaten independently, though she appreciated when I gave her deeper containers of treats.

 

[Avion211]

I have a frizzle black cochin bantam that started showing cross/scissor beak at 3-4 days of age. It's a week old today and its gotten quite a bit worse.


Wish there is something I could do for it. It seems to be healthy though and does eat and drink. I do wet the chicks food and a give this one some extra water with an eye dropper a few times a day.

 

[artsyrobin]

I have a frizzle black cochin bantam that started showing cross/scissor beak at 3-4 days of age. It's a week old today and its gotten quite a bit worse.


Wish there is something I could do for it. It seems to be healthy though and does eat and drink. I do wet the chicks food and a give this one some extra water with an eye dropper a few times a day.

deep dish for food, you might use a couple dishes to make sure she gets enough, and vitamins in the water - this is ginger she does well that way

 

[brittfish]

It's incredible how adaptable animals are. If you have the patience and desire to care for a special needs bird then you can also have a really good pal. My crossbeak cinnamon which I've mentioned on here several times lives in our house now. Yes she poops on the floor and sometimes couch or our lap but it cleans up easily and she is such an awesome pet. She eats mash (water and layer crumbles) and we have to clean her every night as she gets rather dirty on her bib area. She's so sweet and wants to be wherever I am and gets up and sleeps on our laps. Of course yours doesn't have to live inside but she had gotten her beak stuck in the run in December and ended up ripping the top layer of her top beak off so we kept her in to heal and she doesn't want to be outside now.. she lays eggs in her box in the laundry room. I am very glad and grateful we ended up with a cross beak. The perfect bird for a pet we think. She was 6 days old when we first noticed it.

 

[Avion211]

Out of all our chicks, the cross beak is the only one that likes being held at this point. I don't have an issue caring for a special needs animal, I have a cat that has inflammatory bowel disease and she needs to be medicated everyday. I have sav-a-chick electrolytes and probiotics in their water right now. I'm going to go look for some vitamin drops, open to suggestions.

 

[artsyrobin]

It's incredible how adaptable animals are. If you have the patience and desire to care for a special needs bird then you can also have a really good pal. My crossbeak cinnamon which I've mentioned on here several times lives in our house now. Yes she poops on the floor and sometimes couch or our lap but it cleans up easily and she is such an awesome pet. She eats mash (water and layer crumbles) and we have to clean her every night as she gets rather dirty on her bib area. She's so sweet and wants to be wherever I am and gets up and sleeps on our laps. Of course yours doesn't have to live inside but she had gotten her beak stuck in the run in December and ended up ripping the top layer of her top beak off so we kept her in to heal and she doesn't want to be outside now.. she lays eggs in her box in the laundry room. I am very glad and grateful we ended up with a cross beak. The perfect bird for a pet we think. She was 6 days old when we first noticed it.

absolutely worth it! Ginger has a fascination with cursors on the laptop too- they really are quite the personalities-