skewed beak

[Bokbok]

Hello!
I recieved my chicks almost two weeks ago. A week into things I noticed one of the Auracauna chicks had a beak that was a little askew, the bottom did not join to the top perfectly. As the days go by, I believe it is getting worse and worse, as now there is almost a 5 mm difference between the top and bottom beak. I don't understand how the chick eats, but she is just as big and hearty as the other chicks. Is there something I can do? Has anyone ever heard of this or dealt with this problem?

Thank you in advance for your help.

--Bokbok

 

[CarriBrown]

Hi Bokbok... Welcome to the forum!
Your chicken has cross beak which isn't common, per se, but it's common enough. You can keep her beak trimmed with nail clippers or a file. As long as it's not too bad, she will live a normal life. It seems like she is doing just fine, though. I've heard of people trimming the top of the beak so that the bird can "scoop" their food with the bottom of the beak, but hopefully someone else here can give you more info on that.

 

[Bokbok]

Well thats a relief, because my biggest worry was that I would have to put her out of her misery. Now, how do I clip it? Just hold her down and snippety-snip with the nail clippers? Maybe toenail clippers? And is there a certain thing that causes cross beak, or is it genetic?

 

[CarriBrown]

I think it's caused by a skull defect, but don't quote me on that!
Just snip it with clippers! I know it sounds kind of harsh, but it's doesn't sound like it's that off.
If I remember correctly, you'll have to clip it about once a month. She should learn to just hold still. She's eating and thriving, and that's a relief in itself!

 

[MTchick]

I know that inbreeding can cause crossed beaks in some wild bird species, so I would suspect the mom and dad of that chick were part of a "too tight" breeding line.

I would think that with some special attention to beak maintenance, that chick will turn out fine. Keep in mind though, if it is inbred, it is likely to suffer from other problems like susceptibility to diseases.

-MTchick

 

[Bokbok]

Thank you all for replying. I had that thought (susceptibility to other diseases) as well. Well I'll just have to see what happens and keep a close eye on her.

 

[Blisschick]

I've had a few crossbeaks, each with greater or lesser severity. I've had to put a few down because they were too bad, one looked like she was going to make it, but I found dead one day (she was of good weight), and I have one now that's 6 mos. old that is the same size and weight as my other birds. She's one of my favorites.

Lola learned early on to hop into the feeder at the top rather than eating out of the sides, so she adapted to her situation. She can get her beak in the deeper food, and she doesn't have to compete with the others around the feeder. When I feed scratch to the other birds, she'll follow me and try to hop in the bucket because she knows she can eat better in there. She can't eat off the ground at all. She still can't wear her beak down as well as the others, so I have to use a salon nail file to take off the extra length about once a month. She doesn't like it, but tolerates it. I just file down to what it would look like if she'd been able to do it naturally.