crooked beak

[italianchicksrule]

My little silkie chick has her top beak to one side of her lower beak. I didn't notice this when I picked her up 3 weeks ago. Will it get worse and worse as she gets older? She is 3 and 1/2 weeks old now. Is there anything that can be done?

 

[kyrose]

sometimes trimming the top beak helps.it depends on how bad it it.is she eating and drinking?try posting a pic so we can see how bad it is.

 

[eggboy]

I never heard of such a thing.

 

[buckabucka]

It is my experience that the cross beak will get worse. We are on our first batch of chickens, and we had two cross-beaks. It was noticeable on the dark cornish at 3 weeks, and while he appeared to be getting food in, he never grew much and eventually died. Our cross-beak Easter Egger did grow, and she is still alive at 23 weeks. I'm not sure if she gets enough nourishment to support egg-laying. She is smaller than the others, but only slightly. We did trim her top beak just a tiny bit. I don't know if it helped or not. Sometimes cross-beaks make it. It helps to put food at the height of their back.
Good luck.

 

[Cackling Hen]

Quote:
You really have never heard of crossbeak? Im lucky have not had any yet Good luck with Silkie

 

[dieselgrl48]

Cross beak's happen.The bird stands a better chance of survival though if you keep it with only a couple or so other bird's.It is harder for them to eat and if you place it with a number of other bird's they will most likely eat most of the food before it has time to eat it.I had a silkie once with cross beak she did great and I had put her in after several months with some other's and sadly lost her.They are basicaly special need's bird's.I know that now

.They can survive though it just depend's on the bird.I raised a beakless duck once suprisingly turkeys had attacked it as young and the upper beak fell off but it ate and everything just fine.She ate just as much food as the other duck's.Weird thing's can happen and as long as the animal is eating and going along fine

. Hope you bird does great

 

[ZooMummzy]

I have 2 cross beaks - one is an RIR rooster and the other a BL Polish hen - both are 6 months old now and have been this way since birth. Both do great even with their severely crossed beaks. I use very deep bowls for their food and water and always keep them full. I also feed them both higher protein food - chick and/or grower feed - mixed in with layer crumble for the hen. They are able to eat soupy treats and yogurt and for the most part are very normal chickens with just a few adjustments. The Polish lives with another special needs hen inside and rooster goes in and out throughout the day (he has a pen in the garage). Even though my flock has accepted him, I feel he needs quiet time and his own food bowl during the day. I do have to trim and file both of their beaks on a regular basis which is not a favorite activity for any of us lol but it is necessary.

Good luck!

 

[Outpost JWB]

I've tried to keep a chick with scissor beak. She lasted about 4-5 months, then died. When she was born, all looked fine. About a week old, we noticed s slight shift in her beak. She was eating and drinking fine. The beak got worse almost over night and progressive got really bad. In her last days we had made provisions for her. Put her food and water at elevated levels. If she ate/drank at ground level, it would just fall out. Had to clean her beak several times daily. The food would get stuck & become pasty stuck on her beak. The other chicks would sometimes help with that process and peck at her beak. In the end, she spent so much time eating and drinking. The other chicks would be sleeping, not her. She was smaller than the others too.

I wish you luck with your chick. Ive only had one born with it since the other one died. I culled it immediately. But it's your decision. Please keep us posted.