Crooked Beak. Anyone seen this before?

[risadawn]

So my poor little Tomato has a crooked beak. She's the smallest of my 9 birds. The top is also slightly askew from the bottom. I'm wondering if it's a birth defect or if something happened (the other's pecking at her) as she's been growing. Will this affect her in anyway? My poor girl.

Thanks in advance!

 

[TeamChaos]

It's usually genetic and I think you'll find a lot of info (and even a support thread for owners, I believe) if you search "Scissor beak". I had an EE rooster come from the hatchery w/ a crooked beak like that and it eventually corrected itself over time, the hatchery told me that he had probably been injured in shipping. Well, the next spring when we let hens hatch out eggs he had sired, we had three crooked beaked chicks in the group. It was a nightmare! Two of them corrected enough over time that they could be independent and join the big flock, but one of the little ones had the top and bottom pointing in totally opposite ways, and despite all of our care she did not grow much and eventually failed to thrive. Best of luck to you and your flock!

 

[risadawn]

It's noticeable, but it's not THAT bad. As long as the others aren't picking on her she should be okay with the rest, yes? I hope it doesn't bother her too much. Poor girl. The weird thing is that she's 4 weeks old and I don't remember seeing her like that when we first got her. I started to notice something over the last couple of weeks, but really wasn't sure what I was looking at.

And thanks for the actual name!

 

[risadawn]

I've just been reading about scissor beak! OH! My poor girl!! Some sound hopeful that with just extra TLC they thrive just fine so hopefully that will be the case with Tomato. Poor thing. Besides, we still have Bacon and Lettuce and you can't have a BLT without Tomato!

 

[TeamChaos]

Adorable names for your chickens! I hope Tomato pulls through too! Only one chicken had an obvious problem w/ the beak at hatching and that was the most severe, the rest came on as the growth plates in their head developed. I'm not an expert on it at all, but as I said I've had two that were able to join the flock and do fine. Make sure she has deep enough food dishes so that she can learn to scoop her food because the little peck-peck-peck that chickens do is very frustrating for a crossed beak chicken. I'd also go ahead and get her used to being handled for feeding just in case she needs some help later on. Best of luck!

 

[risadawn]

I'm just heartbroken over this. I'm just having a hard time acknowledging this is only going to get worse for her. My husband and I talked about it and we just can't cull her if we can still provide a way for her to thrive. If she needs extra care then we'll do it. I just feel so bad for her.

So I guess the standard feeder that's a circle with the plastic "mason" jar isn't the best for her now?

Thanks! We named the three Buffs Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato since they all looked alike, and the two Americaunas with Chipmunk markings Chip and Dale. Everyone else got random names.

 

[TeamChaos]

There are lots of people who keep happy, healthy scissor beak chickens! As I said, I have two who are in the flock with no special needs. How is she eating now? If she's successful with the current feeder, don't worry about switching it. Just keep an eye on her weight/size in comparison to her flock mates. I know it's sad, but it doesn't have to be tragic- our little girl, Pip, the one with the seriously messed up beak, was with us for a long time and she enjoyed every day of it. She was so joyful and she taught us a lot about taking every day as it comes.

 

[featherz]

I have an adult chicken with a bit of a crossbeak. She eats just fine from a regular feeder and is laying eggs now. it's barely noticeable, not severe. Yours doesn't look so bad right now to me.

 

[risadawn]

Right now it's not bad, but I think it's gotten worse over the last couple of weeks. When I first noticed it I wan't sure what I was looking at or if I was even seeing it correctly. Now, there's no mistaking - something's not right. So I'm afraid it's just going to get worse!

Tomato does go and eat with the others, but I don't know how much she's eating. She is noticeably smaller than the others, but all my birds seem to be varying in size, so we'll keep an eye on her. She's not significantly smaller, so I'm not worried TOO much about that. Well, not yet anyway.

Thanks for the hopeful words!!

 

[TeamChaos]

My one regret w/ Pip chicken is that I didn't immediately start her on a chicken vitamin. I can't say definitively but my *fear* as she grew was that some of the problems we encountered could have been prevented or lessened by a vitamin supplement early on, before I knew how or if it would become severe. You may have already found it, but there is a thread for owners: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-for-special-needs-chickens-and-their-keepers