Cross-beak broke

[GodLovesU]

Poor thing. Glad that she is eating mushy feed for you. Maybe you need to to place her in her own dog crate with food and water back in the chicken coop to keep her part of the flock and to prevent her from getting flushed.

I’m going to be getting more bantams soon, so maybe then I could put her in with the others without her being so picked on?

I would make that bowl three times as deep as that is. The goal is to allow her to peck and not hit bottom. You might waste some feed, but she will be a lot more comfortable peck at the food if she doesn't hit bottom.

Her food bowl is now deeper, and she ate all that was in there yesterday!

 

[GodLovesU]

Ok, here’s the plan: I’m getting bantam chicks, so when I integrate them, I’ll try to integrate her too. For now, she’s in my room. She is incredibly skinny, any ideas for foods to fatten her up?

 

[Jessgitalong]

Sorry if I missed it, but why is she underweight? Because of the beak?

Update: Okay, I see cross beaks make it hard to eat.

 

[Eggcessive]

Try feeding her from a high sided bowl with a crumble feed. Also you can wet a small amount of feed to make it mushy, which she may be able to eat more easily. Just make it fresh daily so it doesn’t spoil. Scrambled egg is good for her. You can try tube feeding her if those do not work. Is her beak still painful? You can give her some time with the other chickens while protected in a wire dog crate with food and water. Can you get a cheap digital scale at Walmart or Target, and get a weight on her to then monitor if she is gaining or losing.

 

[GodLovesU]

She currently has a high sided bowl with some small pieces of pellet feed. I was wetting it for her, but I thought I’d let her try solid. I’ll make her some scrambled eggs today and try to start monitoring her weight. As far as I can tell she isn’t having any issues with her beak.

 

[Eggcessive]

I have heard that crumbles may be easier to eat if she has trouble with the pellets, ut the wet feed is also good. Here is a link for Walmart and Amazon also has inexpensive scales if you need to weigh her, but you may be able to use your home scales if digital:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Food-Kit...y-Stainless-Steel/852334595?classType=REGULAR

 

[NatJ]

you can wet a small amount of feed to make it mushy, which she may be able to eat more easily. Just make it fresh daily so it doesn’t spoil.

A tip to avoid wasting feed:
Give the crossbeak hen plenty of it (so she can eat without bumping her beak on the bottom of the bowl.)
Each time you give her a fresh bowl, give the rest of the old bowl to the main flock of chickens.

That works for wet or dry feed of any type, if you have one chicken that needs special care and you don't want to waste their leftovers.