4 week old chick has a beak problem? scissor beak?

[justcorn]

We have a 4 week old ameraucana chick who as of recent is showing what I have been calling scissor beak. Anyone know about this problem? What causes this? Is there a fix? She is as big as her sisters, eats well and seems to be dealing with it just fine. Any suggestions?

 

[beakkeeper]

First of all,

Secondly, this is a relatively common birth defect known as cross beak or scissor beak (for obvious reasons). If it's very severe, the chick will not be able to eat and will starve to death; immediate culling is the best option for this. Otherwise, you can do a few things:

1) provide deeper food containers so the chick can get food easier
2) feed it separately so the others don't crowd it out
3) trim the lower beak. I don't know how to do this myself, and it only works in mild cases. Since she's doing well, I would imagine that you might not even need to do anything.

Would you mind posting a pic? that would help a lot....

 

[teach1rusl]

If it's a minor case, the chick will most likely do just fine. Just be sure that it's actually able to eat it's feed and drink water, not just trying to do so. Some chicks have actually almost grown out of fairly mild cases, while others have gotten worse with age. It doesn't really seem to be predictable. If you don't think the chick is able to eat and drink well, then I would consider culling. But if it's able to get around (regarding food/water) as well as the others, then it should be just fine. I don't think there is a FIX for this problem.