broken beaks???

[birdlover]

There was a thread on here about a year or so ago where the same thing was happening to another person's chicks. BUT she had them in with guinea keets and discovered it was the keets that were doing it. You don't have keets in with yours, do you? I vote for what another poster said! Get a good book, some iced tea or wine and a lounge chair and go observe for a day. Could be you have one pecking the rest and haven't seen it. Rats make sense but, like you, I would think they would kill the chick and eat it unless they are running away from them when attacked??

 

[Uppity Peon]

Make sure they have access to grit?

 

[Judy]

On the olive oil, why not compromise, soak a little bread in it and give it as a treat. They will love it, it will get on the beaks, and it won't hurt. Might make their feathers shiny!

What kind of feed are they on? What is the protein percent?

Around here, rats come in via tunnels, but you may not have the same species as we do; no expert on rats here. I agree, rats don't seem really very likely, but then you will need a rat plan, anyway.

 

[chickabiddies]

LOL .... I tried to get pictures but they weren't settled for the night yet and their heads move really fast!! i couldn't get the camera to focus in time. I'll sneak down later and get some photos.

Nope. No guinea keets ... just my white rocks.

Grit - well, I haven't put any out specifically yet. The soil is very rocky and so I thought it probably had enough of the smaller stuff for this age range (4 weeks). maybe I'm wrong ... what are you thinking?

I love the bread soaked in olive oil idea ... good compromise. Will definitely do that to see what happens.

They are on starter crumbles. I don't know what percent protein it is ... I have always just followed the age range on the back of the bags.
I did give them 2 containers of Activa yogurt mixed in with a small bowl of their crumbles this morning. They loved it. once a day (right now)I normally give them small treats, like veggies etc. when I go out so they know when they see me to expect good things ... hopefully keep them friendly around people, and I know it can't hurt them. i don't want to give them too much now as I think they need more crumbles at this age ... plus they can graze on the yummy things they find in the run .. which is still quite grassy at this point.

Another thread I just read was from someone who's birds were scratching themselves and scratched their beaks so hard it actually made the beak bloody. Mine do pick at themselves but I have never noticed them scratching their heads, just around their bodies. They started doing that when their feathers started coming in so I figured it was normal.
I have some DE, but I'm not sure if it's food grade or not ... not sure how to tell ... I would love to put that out in the run, but am leary since I don't know if it's safe. I may just get the sevin and sprinkle it around where they dust bathe. lol I have noticed several birds have given up scratching but look pretty dirty from the dust bathe they lavishly took. I tried to buy stall dry the other day because it has the DE in it but Tractor Supply was out.
i'm hoping to eat the eggs and give them out to friends etc .. are the eggs okay if they dust bathe in sevin? Doesn't seem very organic.

Ya know at this point I think the lawn chair idea with a book, and a cool beverage is looking pretty good!
I'll hopefully get my pictures taken tonight and posted for tomorrow!

 

[chickabiddies]

My urgency has ramped WAY up this morning. When I went out to care for the birds I found 2 of my chicks dead.
Last night when I went in nobody was roosting .. which seemed odd, but I didn't think much of it. Now I'm assuming it's because of the dead birds tucked into the corner under the roost ....


Okay ... the food is chick starter grower 20%. (brand name Dumor)
I think I'm good there.

The beaks look better today .. maybe the same, but definitely not worse. I have some pictures posted so you can see if it looks familiar.

Definitely no rats.

I'm starting to feel as if things are going wrong on multiple levels and, because I am inexperienced, it's getting hard to keep it all straight, but I am going to try and stay as organized and informative as possible so you guys who really know what you are talking about have clear info. to work with.


I enclosed pictures of the coop when I first put the birds in ... it was just a dirt floor and I threw pieces of sod in each morning so they would have something to peck at. i did this the first three days.

I observed that some of them routinely perched on the roosts while others nested down underneath the roosts. This really bothered me since the birds underneath were getting pooped on.

I also have been observing one bird who's back feathers were missing. Plucked out by itself, someone else, or fell out? I have no idea.

Over the weekend we opened up the run, I took out the pieces of sod and put down pine chips. This was the day I saw the first bird with the beak issue. later that night i saw a couple more birds with sore spots appearing ... not sure why.

Sunday I spent the day stapling chicken wire to the bottom of their roosts so no one could nest underneath.

yesterday spent the day trying to figure out the beak issue. Last night went out at night to observe. No one was roosting. All nesting by the door.

this morning removed everything to clean and refresh it, also removed the roost to spray it off. that's when i found the dead birds.

My first thought was they died because they got stuck. It's a possibility. BUT they are also birds who were missing significant feathers from their back. Maybe they died from illness?
Everyone acts normally, even the birds with feather loss.

I am attaching pictures of the coop with the pine chips, minus the roost because I took it out this morning. Hopefully taking out my makeshift chicken wired roost will get rid of the beak issue.

I also attached pictures of the birds so you could see their 'featherlessness'. it seems as though their skin looks too pink and irritated and now it's more birds. I am getting Sevin this afternoon to put down where they dust bathe. I'm hoping this cures that problem. I guess if they stop pecking at themselves so much I'll know that was it. they looked pretty bad this morning but they were all lifting up their feathers as they bathed so you could see very clearly the base of the feathers.

I also attached 2 pictures of their poo. One is a very healthy looking poo. i have seen an occasional brown pudding poo but not an amount that worries me. I also have a picture of a bird sitting alone who is still got a lot of downy ... I put this picture in so you could see the poo in the bottom left corner ... it doesn't look right. Too runny. First I've really seen like this.

I attached the worst pictures I could find so I could get this diagnosed and get these birds healthy. they are still singing, and talking so happily ... you'd never know they had issues. sigh.

Beaks:

Coop:

featherlessness:

Poo:

I feel so helpless and inexperienced. having 8 birds is a whole lot different than 60!! I am a little overwhelmed, but ready to take it on. Next step is to get the coop bigger ... but I don't want to do that until these issues are resolved.
Thanks!!!

THANK YOU!

 

[Chew593]

this may be redundant, I haven't read the whole thread but could they be picking at each other? Do they have enough room? What's the size of their run? The size of their coop? I'm pretty new to chickens myself, but they look pretty cramped.

I've read they need 10 sq feet of run space and 4 sq feet of coop space Per Bird.

 

[Judy]

Those are Cornish X, or meat birds, I do believe. They should not be given roosts. They are bred to be processed around 6 to 8 weeks. That is pretty much the way Cornish X feather out. There may be a few that have been feather picked by others, but mostly it looks to me like normal Cornish X feathering. It is not unusual for Cornish X to drop dead without warning, due to a heart problem. They are also very prone to broken legs.

Cornish X are usually fed only 12 hours a day as they will eat themselves to death even before ready for processing.

I have never had Cornish X but am almost positive that is what they are (I spend way too much time here!) Why don't you try starting a new thread in the meat birds forum, where people know more about these birds, post a few pics, and ask if others have had beak problems with this breed?

 

[chickabiddies]

More room is very possible I guess. I didn't think they needed 4 square feet per bird until they were older. We have been giving them more space each week.

Oh boy. Meat birds or Cornish X's???
I ordered White Rocks. They can get to be about 5-6 pounds at full maturity. I ordered 50 females/hens and 4 males/roosters. they sent us 55 females, and 5 roosters.
they are definitely getting big fast. I figured we could sell the eggs, and if they didn't sell we could slaughter 25 and keep 25 alive for eggs. We are a big family, love eggs to eat and bake with.

how would I know if I got the wrong birds? If they are meat birds I know they need to be cared for differently, as my Aunt raises those.

So is this what birds look like who don't have enough space?

 

[Judy]

Quote:
Make a thread in the forum, What Breed or Gender is This?, and post pics, and get some opinions from others who know these better than I. If they are getting big fast, I fear my guess is correct. Be sure to say what you ordered and how old they are. If at all possible, weigh a couple - or at least get a pic of one next to something like a Coke can for comparison. If they are Cornish X it certainly changes the game plan....

 

[Judy]

BTW, you are right, at one month, regular chickens only need maybe 1.5-2 sq ft per bird, and the 4/bird is for adults, although it is a minimum and not an optimum; they really do better in more. People raise Cornish X til slaughter in about 2 to 2.5 sq ft per bird, I believe.