Cross beak chick...suggestions?

[RyRe2010]

Out of 27 chicks, this is the only chick to have this issue. It's an Ameraucana x Partridge Rock cross...both parents don't exhibit it. So it's either carried or this happened in the incubator, hatching, etc. The Partridge Rock is dad to all the babies.
Anywho, I've done reading about birds with this deformity...they can be raised, however with effort. My question, the chick is 2 weeks and 3 days and it's already pretty bad...do I just keep letting it grow and do it's thing? I have no experience with beak clipping or anything. Or would it be kinder to cull it? I'm torn...i want it to have a good quality of life and I feel like later on it may not.

 

[Arya28]

Awe, poor baby! It's such a beautiful little chick.

We have an ameraucana who has cross beak. We don't know how he got it, but he developed it over time (didn't have it as a baby). His isn't one of the worst cases I've seen, but it still looks all messed up. He (thankfully) still eats and drinks and does his thing and has never had a problem. We had one of our buff orpingtons develop it too, and so we tried clipping his beak... and well, we tried to clip is beak and it started bleeding so we stopped that. He just eventually wore his down over time so he doesn't have that problem at all anymore, and his was pretty crooked.

As for your baby.. I'm not sure what to do with one that small. Does it seem to be having a problem eating and drinking? I would suggest possibly putting a rock or something in with it to see if it can wear it down at all on its own. As for beak trimming... the chick might be small enough that it would help. I don't know much about it either, but if it seems to be having trouble eating or drinking it might be worth a shot. If it can still eat and drink without trouble I would probably see if it can wear the beak down as it gets older.

As for culling... that has to be your choice, obviously. I know a lot of people cull their birds at the first sign of anything wrong to prevent weakness in the flock. We don't do that, because usually, we have found, there is a solution. (Now obviously if the quality of life was going to be bad, you'd want to do something about it). We have had quite a few occasions where we thought we might have to cull, but we never have had to. We've thankfully always gotten the problems straightened out. I don't know, you kind of have to judge that for yourself. I would think there has to be a way to fix that!

Good luck!

 

[Folly's place]

It's possible to keep her growing, but difficult to expect a long life.
As you've read, she needs crumble or mash in a deep dish, and water in a deeper dish too, always. She can't eat stuff off the ground, or anything that's hard to pick up, because that beak just doesn't work right. Grit may be difficult/ impossible for her too, so good quality feed forever.
If it's a cockerel, I would plan to have him in the freezer rather than try to integrate him into the flock as a non-breedable rooster.
Hens will have a difficult time eating enough to support themselves and their genetically programed egg production, especially if it's meant to be very good. And, you don't want to hatch her eggs, ever.
Some beak trimming may help, but even so, watch her weight, and be prepared to take appropriate steps if she's getting thin.
Mary

 

[AKChickenMom]

My EE looked that at two weeks, and at 4.5 weeks is 50% worse. In retrospect, I would have culled her at 2 weeks. She's half the size of the others and every day I look at her and wonder if she's suffering. She spends all her time trying to eat. They all enjoy a deep bowl of moistened chick starter twice per day - in addition to regular chick starter. Just when I think today is the day, she flies to the top roost bar in the brooder (2.5') so has energy...

 

[RyRe2010]

It seems to be eating and drinking alright. As of right now, out of the 10 chicks we kept it's about the same size as 5 of them. I'm sure as the weeks progress it won't be. It's running about and doing what all the other chicks do ^_^ I just look at it and feel terrible. If it is a roo, we will be putting it in the freezer as with any of the others from this hatch. Just such a bummer, it's the only black/copper one! Thank you all for your advise!

 

[lazy gardener]

The problem will get progressively worse as her skull grows. Unless you have the time and patience to faithfully tube feed her several times/day, I'd do the merciful thing and cull her. Allowing her to progressively get worse, as she slowly starves to death is IMO not a good choice. But, as other posters have said, your bird, your choice.

 

[lazy gardener]

BTW, developing red chest patches point to it being a cockerel. Look for red wing patches also.

 

[RyRe2010]

The problem will get progressively worse as her skull grows. Unless you have the time and patience to faithfully tube feed her several times/day, I'd do the merciful thing and cull her. Allowing her to progressively get worse, as she slowly starves to death is IMO not a good choice. But, as other posters have said, your bird, your choice.

Being new to chickens in the last year and a half I've not had to do anything like that to a chick. If we decide to do that, what is the best way at this age? I don't want it to suffer more than it has to :-(

 

[lazy gardener]

To cull or to tube feed? I've never tube fed. @casportpony can advise you about that.

When I cull a chick, I use a sharp pair of garden clippers, wrap the chick in a paper towel, place the clippers in the correct location, fold the towel over the top, do the clip and immediately drop the chick into a waiting paper bag. Bury it in the yard.

 

[RyRe2010]

To cull or to tube feed? I've never tube fed. @casportpony can advise you about that.

When I cull a chick, I use a sharp pair of garden clippers, wrap the chick in a paper towel, place the clippers in the correct location, fold the towel over the top, do the clip and immediately drop the chick into a waiting paper bag. Bury it in the yard.

Thank you ^_^ My husband and I have talked about this bird a lot. We are leaning more towards culling :-(