chicken w/ messed up face and beak (pic inc.) trim beak?

[queenhoneeybee]

i finally am able to upload pics of one of me ee's edwarda 'scissorhands' poor baby

i don't know when or where or if or at what point am i to trim her beak. any info would be helpful... thank you! http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31546778&l=8e5dc5bd05&id=1402662678 errr ok maybe i don't know how to post pics on byc lol

 

[queenhoneeybee]

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[ruth]

That's called a cross beak or scissors beak. Unfortunately there's nothing you can do about it. If the bird has had it its whole life it has probably managed to learn to eat and survive. Looks like its an older bird that has learned to cope with its disability. I had a Polish chick that hatched with a cross beak and it got worse as the bird got older but she was always able to eat and grew to adulthood. You may, however, need to be sure there are bowls of food (crumbles are best) that the bird can scoop up. With a cross beak, they can't peck.

Monique

 

[Oven Ready]

It's not the best look in the world but is it actually troubling her?

I'm guessing she's not gotten that big by being hand fed so is there a reason (other than cosmetic) that makes you want to trim her beak. Sometimes things are best left alone.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

Just keep a close eye on it and make sure it's getting enough calories. These birds can starve slowly. I've read of some birds doing just fine, they learn to compensate. Having a deep dish of food for them to scoop up food is important. I had one but I ended up having it culled because she had inadvertently cut off half her tongue trying to peck at food and it became gangrene. Also, I had been weighing her and she was only gaining weight at half the rate of the other birds her size and age. Yours has made it this far so hopefully she'll do just fine.