She is eating, drinking but little bits at a time. Her growth is not as obvious as the other 9 but she is not showing signs of distress. Can we do anything to help? I play by the rule "FIRST-Do No Harm" thus the question.
7 day old baby chick with a "mis-aligned" beak.
- Thread starter JaTexas
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Prince and Pavo
Songster
- Apr 4, 2023
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Hello!
I think what you’re describing is scissor beak, also called cross beak. So far I’ve only had a couple pullets with this condition, and one (my crevecœur, named Crossy) grew out of it. We still have her. My other pullet was a buff Orpington that I specifically chose at the store because I noticed she had scissor beak and was missing an eye, and I knew she would die if I didn’t rescue her. Although it was harder for her to eat, she was still able to, but I found that she could eat the most when we turned the food into mush by mixing it with water. She did require a little extra work and attention, but because of that, combined with her condition, she was the sweetest and most friendly of all my chickens. Sadly she died last summer while I was on a trip, probably due to the fact that she couldn’t get about food before the others ate it all, and possibly because of the heat. (It gets really hot where I live.)
If you are able to, I think you should definitely do your best to make your chick comfortable and happy, and raise her with extra love. She will likely end up being one of your favorites.
Mix her food with some water to make it into a pasty mush, and watch her to make sure she gets a sufficient amount. You may want to separate her from the other chicks while you feed her the mush, otherwise they may eat it all before she can, unless the mixture becomes the new regular food for all of them and is always available. Sometimes mixing it with yogurt works well too…
Hope this helps!
I think what you’re describing is scissor beak, also called cross beak. So far I’ve only had a couple pullets with this condition, and one (my crevecœur, named Crossy) grew out of it. We still have her. My other pullet was a buff Orpington that I specifically chose at the store because I noticed she had scissor beak and was missing an eye, and I knew she would die if I didn’t rescue her. Although it was harder for her to eat, she was still able to, but I found that she could eat the most when we turned the food into mush by mixing it with water. She did require a little extra work and attention, but because of that, combined with her condition, she was the sweetest and most friendly of all my chickens. Sadly she died last summer while I was on a trip, probably due to the fact that she couldn’t get about food before the others ate it all, and possibly because of the heat. (It gets really hot where I live.)
If you are able to, I think you should definitely do your best to make your chick comfortable and happy, and raise her with extra love. She will likely end up being one of your favorites.
Mix her food with some water to make it into a pasty mush, and watch her to make sure she gets a sufficient amount. You may want to separate her from the other chicks while you feed her the mush, otherwise they may eat it all before she can, unless the mixture becomes the new regular food for all of them and is always available. Sometimes mixing it with yogurt works well too…
Hope this helps!
- Thread starter
- #3
The problem she had was that she could get bits of food, mush, whatever we could interest her in but before it got into her throat...she would drop it. She got weak in just a few days, much smaller even when we fed her droplets of mush/food she could not get it down. Water was the same...eye dropper about it. One night she just gave up. We purchased four more just because and they are doing great. Her other issue was a missing eye. No socket nothing. Rushing to get the coop finished and almost done.Hello!
I think what you’re describing is scissor beak, also called cross beak. So far I’ve only had a couple pullets with this condition, and one (my crevecœur, named Crossy) grew out of it. We still have her. My other pullet was a buff Orpington that I specifically chose at the store because I noticed she had scissor beak and was missing an eye, and I knew she would die if I didn’t rescue her. Although it was harder for her to eat, she was still able to, but I found that she could eat the most when we turned the food into mush by mixing it with water. She did require a little extra work and attention, but because of that, combined with her condition, she was the sweetest and most friendly of all my chickens. Sadly she died last summer while I was on a trip, probably due to the fact that she couldn’t get about food before the others ate it all, and possibly because of the heat. (It gets really hot where I live.)
If you are able to, I think you should definitely do your best to make your chick comfortable and happy, and raise her with extra love. She will likely end up being one of your favorites.
Mix her food with some water to make it into a pasty mush, and watch her to make sure she gets a sufficient amount. You may want to separate her from the other chicks while you feed her the mush, otherwise they may eat it all before she can, unless the mixture becomes the new regular food for all of them and is always available. Sometimes mixing it with yogurt works well too…
Hope this helps!
Skull deformity then, the beak misalignment was just part of that. She wasn't going to make it, so know that you did the best you could for her.
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