Chick with crossed beak

[lil crickett]

I have a Faverolle bantam chick that we had to help out of its shell after four days of its struggling to get out. It had an umbilical cord wrapped around its neck but it seems to be doing better now in moving its neck. However I noticed that it had its beak crossed a lil and was wondering what I can do for the chick which seems determined to survive. The chick only been out of shell for 24 hours almost.

 

[chicmom]

Hello,

Cross beak is actually a deformity of the skull. If it's not too severe, the chick might do just fine. What you have to do is make sure that you have a deep feeding dish because the chick will need to "scoop" the food into it's mouth.

The sad thing is, that usually, cross beak worstens with age. Sometimes you can file the beak down or clip it a tiny bit to try and make the overhang smaller.

The only thing you can really do is watch the chick closely to make sure it's getting food and water. Sometimes you can feed them some chopped, boiled egg yolk to give them some more calories and protein. Some cross beak chicks do grow to adulthood, and can live a pretty long time, while others have such a problem eating and drinking that they become very skinny, and can starve.

Wish I had better news for you,

Good luck with your little chick,
Sharon