How to feed crooked / cross / scissor beak chicken!

[superjjf]

I'm writing this because I wish someone would have told me sooner. If you choose to keep a cross beak, start feeding it parrot hand feeding formula when you notice the beak. This should help cut down on malnutrition (which I read alot of people have happening to their chick before they try to supplement their diet). If there is a crooked beak, there is more than likely a dietary supplement needed. Why keep a cross beak? Sweetest chicken ever.

 

[superjjf]

I also trimmed the top beak, but it's so young I'm not sure of the effectiveness. I just put a small cup of parrot hand feed (it's like an applesauce consistency) down and she handles the rest. More severe cases might mean a dropper.

 

[Tayscafe]

We have a cross/crooked/scissor beak that is approximately 4-5 weeks old. She's a little smaller than the rest. I've read a lot of blogs but haven't received much information other than culling and trying to trim beak. What age and how long can they stay on parrot hand feed. We really want to try and do everything we can for her. We are new to chickens, this is our first batch of girls. All suggestions welcome.

Kristi

 

[couture411]

Thank you so much for writing this! I couldn't find anything on the internet about what to feed my crooked beaked chick thats 2 weeks old and the smallest in the group. I just got parrots and feed and gave some to her with a syringe, its messy but she defiantly got some food in her. Thank you so so much for taking the time to write on this forum!!!

 

[wolfinator]

I have a scissor beak Showgirl hen that's is a little over a year old. She's much smaller than my other Showgirl hens (1 LB approx.). She does her best to eat the layer pellets I feed all my other chickens and I give her foods like bread, cheerios softened in milk or water, grits, oatmeal, applesauce, smashed pears, 100% pure pumpkin, rice with corn or peas and more. She just laid her first egg last week to my surprise, it was about the size of a pigeon egg. Pictured is an egg from my Rhode Island Red/Silkie on the left and my scissor beak Showgirl's egg on the right.

I have thought about trimming her beak but am not sure how to go about doing it or if its best done by a vet. There's only one vet who sees livestock and they are very expensive for me. Any advice on doing this is greatly appreciated

 

[hooktontravel]

shoot! I wish i'd known this a few weeks ago! my little scissor beak is about 8 weeks old now, and TINY. she's about 1/4 the size of everyone else. but they don't pick on her, let her sleep in the middle of the pile, and she eats the fermented chick starter i offer to everyone -- wet down & let stand overnight, then scoop into a tuna can. I made a 'no-spill' feeder today with PVC elbows inside a plastic bucket and she went right inside the 3 inch pipe and sat there. I hope she was stuffing her little crop. I think the chick feeder wasn't helpful for her. she would beak the food out all OVER the ground and I think not get much inside her in the process. She is super active and seems like a normal chick aside from her extremely tiny size, and wants to do what everyone else does. If she stops being active and 'normal chicken' that will be the time I go ahead and cull her. The winter will be hard if she doesn't get some more body size built on her!

Any thoughts on if it's too late to pick up some parrot formula and get it in her at this stage of the game?

I only have 6 chicks and 1 duckling. I'm not into tube feeding or anything super involved for years on end, but if there are things I can do to make it easier for her to eat and have better quality of life & development I definitely will try. She's very sweet and comes to be picked up & snuggles right into the palm of my hand. the other birds groom her a little bit, but I will have to bathe her soon. I wipe her beak with a wet cotton swab every few days to clean off the accumulated food goop.

I appreciate all the advice & information shared on BYC! it's very helpful.

 

[wolfinator]

A little more on my scissor beak. I nicknamed her "Little One". According to the people I got all my chickens from that she is 16 months old this month. I've now had her and my other chickens for a year as of 7/6/16 and I've learned a lot over this last year.

I switched all my chickens to crumbles which is much easier for my scissor beak to eat. I add a small handful to her food each time. She's even on occasion, will look at me then the container of crumbles as if to remind me to add some to her soft food, but she prefers that I only put it on one side of the bowl. She is such a little character. She's very active and keeps up with my other chickens. She's close to the size of my other Showgirls, just lighter. I've decided not to trim her beak after noticing that the scissoring is too severe, it starts at the base of her beak where the beak is twisted not just scissored. Her beak would have to be trimmed past the quick and she'd still have to be feed soften foods.

 

[aholmie]

I have a 10 wk old severely scissor beaked chick that is SO tiny compared to the others of the same hatch. I feed mash(peas, creamed corn, yogurt, eggs, mixed w crumbles. She literally flies over to me when I have the bowl and jumps in it before I let it down lol! I feed her twice a day sometimes more if I am home in afternoon. Wondering if there is any other vitamins/supplements I can add. Her feathers are falling out and I want to plump her up before winter!

 

[Jayne_ofthechickens]

I'm writing this because I wish someone would have told me sooner. If you choose to keep a cross beak, start feeding it parrot hand feeding formula when you notice the beak. This should help cut down on malnutrition (which I read alot of people have happening to their chick before they try to supplement their diet). If there is a crooked beak, there is more than likely a dietary supplement needed. Why keep a cross beak? Sweetest chicken ever.

Bless you!! I just had a friend drop off a cross beak that their cousin didn’t want to deal with. I was trying egg yolk and starter as a paste. Just ordered hand feed! Thank you for this advice!!

 

[wolfinator]

A little more on my scissor beak. I nicknamed her "Little One". According to the people I got all my chickens from that she is 16 months old this month. I've now had her and my other chickens for a year as of 7/6/16 and I've learned a lot over this last year.

I switched all my chickens to crumbles which is much easier for my scissor beak to eat. I add a small handful to her food each time. She's even on occasion, will look at me then the container of crumbles as if to remind me to add some to her soft food, but she prefers that I only put it on one side of the bowl. She is such a little character. She's very active and keeps up with my other chickens. She's close to the size of my other Showgirls, just lighter. I've decided not to trim her beak after noticing that the scissoring is too severe, it starts at the base of her beak where the beak is twisted not just scissored. Her beak would have to be trimmed past the quick and she'd still have to be feed soften foods.

I figured I'd post about "Little One". She had passed away on January 31, 2019. She passed in her favorite spot (cat litter bucket nesting box). Even though she only laid tiny 1/2" - 3/4" eggs once or twice a year, she often sat in this nesting box. She out lived all but 2 of my original 18. I lost 1 of last 2, a mixed Cochin bantam, in June 2019 then on January 31, 2020, I lost not only my last original bantam but my last Showgirl. I only have standard size breeds.

Little One was adorable to watch, especially eating. She was always a mess afterwards. She was never treated differently (other than food time), she lived in a coop with not only other bantams but standard breeds and ducks. She commanded respect from all, especially the roosters (8-11 at any time). I'd seen her go after a RIR rooster because he was trying to be frisky with her, he backed off quickly. She was a very strong willed girl. I was going to post a photo of her but I realized I didn't have a good ones (or bad) of her showing her crossed beak. I miss all my chickens who have passed, especially our "Little One".