6 Week Old Crossbeak

[chicken19]

My little six week old americauna chick has a horrible crossbeak.
Poor Little Blackie (LB) is very small and getting skinny.
She's alway eating but has a lot of trouble getting the food in her mouth.
She can't preen properly due to her cross-beak so her feathers are horribly ragged.
She is currently being fed 18% Step 3 Chick Crumble in a dish so it's easier for her to eat than the normal feeder.
She runs around and follows me everywhere she can.
I love her to bits.
Please post any tips on trying to get more nutrition into her, she's getting skinnier everyday!
I'm open to try anything.
She currently lives in the coop with her 19 other buddies and she's pretty high in the pecking order despite her size and smallness.

LB at age 3 to 4 and a half weeks.

 

[QueenMisha]

Tube feeding may be an option for you. Here is an excellent post on the process. Depending on how well she continues to be able to eat, she may need to be tube fed once or twice a day. The process can become very easy once you learn how to do it. It will keep her in good condition.

 

[chicken19]

Thanks! I'll look into trying that.

 

[artsyrobin]

if you are on facebook i have a crossbeak support group- see my sig
i have found with mine that some like dry some wet and some inbetween, so play with conistancy. To add extra calories, you can mix cornmeal or oatmeal into the food- you can also buy avigain to help put weight on
http://www.avitec.com/AviGain-8-oz-p/ag-8.htm

moving her inside might be a very good option with a chicky buddy, easier to monitor

this is ginger, she gets both crumble and wet food - she is almost 3

 

[chicken19]

Thanks so much! This is so helpful. I make a mash for LB with sugar (temporarily), yogurt, chick crumble, hot water, coconut oil and sometimes a raw eggs
My plan with LB is to keep her inside at night with some mash and water. Then In the morning give her more mash if she ate all of last night's it and put her back in the coop with the other chicks. Then, bring her in again at night.
She can get some dry chick crumble into her and she can eat the mash like water if I make it thin enough.
I've been playing with thickness of the mash and so far the thin, broth type stuff works the best.

 

[artsyrobin]

i did lose one crossbeak - made the mash to thin and he choked, so be careful on that- the others do fine with it-

 

[HelloChickies]

Hi, Chicken19! Gosh-- LB is so sweet!! It is so wonderful to read how well you're caring for her. My little Cleo's beak is pretty severe, too. She is 2 months old now, and SOOO tiny! She is less than half the size of her sisters born the same day. It seemed like she never left the food dish- pecking, pecking, pecking, and never getting anything. She never had a full crop and was getting skinnier every day. :-( I tried different ideas, and here's what finally works for her. I put the dry chicken crumbles in the blender, and blend them until its basically powder. (I make a week's worth of powder at a time.) I put it into a deep dish, and wet it down with water containing 'Save-a-chick' electrolites and probiotics. I make it smooth enough to flow slowly off the spoon, but not runny. At first, she just pecked at it and gave up. Then I finally took a dropper, and put a glob of food on her lower beak, and she gulped it down! Yay! After a day or two of that (and making an ENORMOUS mess , I can finally set the dish down, and she'll scoop, raise her head, and swallow, on her own. She seems to be filling her crop finally, and gaining a little weight, thank goodness. Although, she always looks so ragged and pathetic because she flings food everywhere, and of course can't preen herself. So I guess I'll be learning how to give a chicken-bath! LOL

Here's a recent picture of my funny little Cleo:

 

[chicken19]

Oh my! She's a real cutie

She reminds me a lot of LB.
Cross-beaks are so ugly and adorable at the same time. They melt my heart!