Chick hatched with slight cross beak, suggestions as to how to help correct?

Lobzi

Crowing
14 Years
May 6, 2008
2,332
271
356
San Francisco Bay Area, EB
Im looking for ideas. Im trying something Ive never tried before but then I have never noticed a chick with cross beak beak so early before. It just came out of the shell this morning and I could see that the beak is slightly crossed. I have had experience and I know the with age the cross progresses to more extreme so Im hoping to help the little one by attempting to correct the deformity while it is still not eating or drinking and just happy to be left alone to sleep.
I took a small piece of tape and wrapped the very end of the beak hoping to align the ends correctly. I plan to at least let it alone now until tomorrow about this time.

Any comments on this idea or any other suggestions welcome. I wish I had some of those very small rubber bands for braces. I might have tried that instead of the tape.
 
Could you post some pictures? It might be a deformity in which the lower part of the beak is longer than the top one. If it is, use a dog-nail clipper to trim the light part of the bottom beak. The light colored part is like our nails, and are not sensitive to pain. Be careful not to cut the flesh, because it could cause bleeding. The difference between the light part and the dark is pretty obvious. You could also use a file, but I find that a bit more difficult. I hope the problem gets fixed! :D
 
She is sleeping with the tape on now. Ill get some pics in a day or two. The misalignment is so slignt it might not even show on a pic anyway. It is a side to side misalignment not a length issue but thanks for your offer of an idea, Someone else might be able to use it or maybe I might need it in the future...idea tucked away...
 
Good news: The tape stayed on his beak tip over night but was off this afternoon when I check again on him. His beak seems to have actually aligned! So the tape may have worked.
Bad news: He may be blind, definitely developmentally behind (balance issues), and he has a stumpy wing on the side that the lower beak leaned toward. May be related, dont know.
Time will give me a better idea but in the meantime I fed him liquid vitamins and nutrients and he is still sleeping in wrapped in a soft towel in the incubator as he is not ready for the brooder yet. Poor little one; my heart breaks.
 
Little Stumpy was dead this morning. He had some time in the brooder with the others, gained some balance but never ate. I examined his eyes and they were not open and he appeared to be blind, not responding to even bright light.
Crook beak no eyes stumpy wing.JPG
Needless to say he had a lot of issues. On to better places, I hope, for him.

I took this pic before putting him to bed in the brooder last night.
 

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