Chick with cross beak *pics*

[maybejoey]

I got a Salmon Favorelle male from Meyer hatchery with this problem. He is so sweet and almost died but I saved him so I am really attached. He eats pretty normaly and doesnt have any problems except for his beak. I hope it doesnt get worse but what do I do if it does? DO I have to cull him???

 

[birdygal]

Mine did well until now an he is almost more than a year and a half. My husband wants to put him out of his misery and if something is not done he will die. I am reading about scissor chicks here, but I need to know if anything can be done with an older one and this is an emergency. he is the only survivor out of 15 first crop of babies we got.

 

[AinaWGSD]

Pictures or a more precise description of why he isn't doing well anymore may help get more useful answers. But if he's not doing well because he isn't getting enough to eat, then you are going to have to do something different with his diet. If he's badly debilitated, then putting him out of his misery may be the best option for him. At the very least, if he's badly debilitated you are going to have to tube feed him to bring him back from the brink.

Diary of a Crossbeak: Support for Special Needs Chickens and Their Keepers is a more extensive thread with a lot of useful information on keeping a crossbeak chicken. It also has a tube feeding tutorial on the first page (post #4) with photos that is pretty good.

 

[Tomczyk]

Hi not sure I saw this posted as a comment but her it goes. When you have the cross beak make sure you check their upper beak. It may be that the upper beak is not growing correctly and pushing the lower beak out of alignment. I have this with one of mine and at first I just thought trim the bottom well I decided to look at her top and when I did and opened her mouth a little I saw that it was there that she has an over growth on the top right side which is causing the lower beak to be pushed out to the left. After I got rid of the over growth there it looked better already. I am sure that I will have to keep an eye on that until it is aligned correctly. Hope this helps

 

[Tomczyk]

Birdygirl you could use a dremel to trim it and make sure you check his top beak to make sure there is not over growth there causing it to push his lower beak out or visversa

 

[Wyandotte103]

What is cross beak?

 

[Thassa]

This is my sweet Beaker. He needs a little trim but he does pretty well otherwise. He and his buddy are the only 2 of my 30 that still free range through the snow every day and hang out under the bird feeder. All the other chickens stay in the barn. Every other day I give him some yogurt mixed with his food so I know he is getting plenty to eat.

 

[Dragonfroggy]

Can someone explain how far to trim. Is it like cutting dogs nails? Is there an easy way to see where to stop? I have an EE that is about 8 weeks old and she is still doing good on eating but you can tell the cross is slowly getting worse.

 

[realsis]

hi there I too have a cross beak.mine is 5 months old now. your really going to have to keep up with the trimming about every month to three weeks. trim small increments at a time or she will bleed. sometimes bleeding happens. it's like trial and error. just very small amounts at a time. it will keep it in check. it does get worse with age but if you can faithfully keep it trimmed it really helps. this month I had to carefully i mean carefully trim the lower break on mine. remember the tongue is there so if lower trimming becomes necessary do it with extreme caution. mostly I trim the upper only. this was the first time I had to trim the lower. also freed mash. it really helps them eat. mines doing well and happy. she's just a bit thin but I'm feeding her seprate with mash and it's helping. with a little help from you she will do just fine. but get used to trimming because it must be done fairly often. good luck! best wishes. any more questions I'll gladly help you. just pm me OK. hope this is helpful.

 

[realsis]

its like trimming dogs nails being careful not to get into the quill. I rotate top and bottom being extra extra extra careful on the lower. I make my own mash for mine..mine would get worse every month if I didn't trim. mines 5 months old I've been trimming since two months old I've kept her beak fairly under control with the large toe nail clippers. hope this also helps.