Cross beak help!

[acb950]

I have a 11week old chick that has cross beak. I noticed last week. I went away for 2 days and came back to find her with a cross beak. It seemed to come on all of a sudden and out of no where. I do not recall ever seeing any gapping or misalignment before this happened. I know a lot is believed to be genetic, but could possibly a trauma of some sort cause cross beak? In the past week since her cross beak, she has lost some weight. I do try to take out a deep dish for her to scoop thru so she can eat. When I take out treats, she walks over takes a look and walks away sometimes without even trying to eat the treat as if she knows she is unable to pick it up to eat. She seems to be a little more affectionate and will let me pick her up to wipe out her mouth as it gets junky looking. What food she does get, she seems to have to thrust it a bit with her tongue. Today when I took down the food dish, she seemed a little more tired than normal. She would eat then close her eyes to catch a little nap, then go back to eat and so on. She would also just stand and start to doze off. I just hope she is not in pain or getting weak from not being able to eat as much. However, she does walk around, fly up on things and seems to act somewhat normal and do things the other girls do. I know there is a lot of talk of cross beak chickens not making it. At what point will I know if I need to cull her or is there something that I can do to help her? I feel awful as if there is something I should or could be doing. I am planning on getting something tomorrow to try and file her beak. Any tips or suggestions as to properly file down are greatly appreciated.

Thanks for all the help and sorry this is kind of a long post. I am just concerned about my poor sweet girl and it saddens me to think I may have to cull her or that she is in pain.





~angie

 

[VioletBlueIvy]

Hi,
I have a roo who's beak looks just like your girl. I trim his beak well back to the quick top and bottom. I use people nail clippers and file it smooth if needed with one of my nail files. He has an awful hard time with pellets, so I switched to crumbles. I also noticed he eats easier if the feed is at least 4"deep. I made a feeder out of large PVC pipe it is J shaped, he likes that best. He broke his top beak this spring, and it made it even easier for him to eat, so the shorter you can trim it the better. He has started breeding hens this summer, and running off the other roo's too, the goofy little bugger. They can live a normal life with just a little extra TLC. I was not able to find any solid answer on whether it is a genetic problem or a hatch problem. He came from a batch od Blue Ameracuna chicks I ordered from Hodges Farms in Georgia, and their was another crossbeak in the batch with him. They both had other neuralogocal issues too, balance and vision primarily were effected. The other one never grew right despite all my efforts and ended up drowning in the ducks pool, he was just too wobbly to get out even though it was not deep. I also hatched two other Blue Ameracunas from eggs I bought on here and one of those has a crooked beak too, but it is just a little bent to one side. All three are BBS Ameracunas and black.
I think she will be just fine

 

[PioneerPrincess]

Hi,
I have a roo who's beak looks just like your girl. I trim his beak well back to the quick top and bottom. I use people nail clippers and file it smooth if needed with one of my nail files. He has an awful hard time with pellets, so I switched to crumbles. I also noticed he eats easier if the feed is at least 4"deep. I made a feeder out of large PVC pipe it is J shaped, he likes that best. He broke his top beak this spring, and it made it even easier for him to eat, so the shorter you can trim it the better. He has started breeding hens this summer, and running off the other roo's too, the goofy little bugger. They can live a normal life with just a little extra TLC. I was not able to find any solid answer on whether it is a genetic problem or a hatch problem. He came from a batch od Blue Ameracuna chicks I ordered from Hodges Farms in Georgia, and their was another crossbeak in the batch with him. They both had other neuralogocal issues too, balance and vision primarily were effected. The other one never grew right despite all my efforts and ended up drowning in the ducks pool, he was just too wobbly to get out even though it was not deep. I also hatched two other Blue Ameracunas from eggs I bought on here and one of those has a crooked beak too, but it is just a little bent to one side. All three are BBS Ameracunas and black.
I think she will be just fine

I agree. I had a Mottled Japanese bantam hen with a cross beak. The only thing that was not normal about her was her beak. It did take her more effort to eat. When the top &/or bottom of her beak grew too long, I just trimmed it off with nail clippers and she could eat better. As far as I knew, she didn't seem to be suffering. Hope this helps!

 

[acb950]

Thanks for your helpful replies. It is just so strange to me that it came out of no where. Like I said earlier, I went away for not even 2 full days and come back to find her like this. I don't think it has gotten worse, but my husband seems to think it has a little. I may also try some poly-vi-sol without iron (if I can find it without the iron) to see if it may help her overall as I know it will not make her beak go back to normal. With her not able to eat like she used to and can see a big difference in her weight, I want to make sure she has all the vitamins she needs especially when it is time for her to start to lay. Thanks again.

 

[PioneerPrincess]

I forgot to mention that when we first purchased her, she seemed fine. I hadn't noticed anything irregular until a few days or so after we got her. Her cross beak did seem to come up suddenly and as she grew up, her cross beak became worse. Last year, I was dissecting some eggs that didn't hatch and noticed a chick with a cross beak. I'm guessing it had been her egg.

 

[Waytoomanyroosters]

I have a 4 month old Aracauna with scissor beak. She was fine until a week ago and started acting erratic. I believe other chickens have ostracized her. She is a loner. I caught her and caged her to fatten her. Also clipped her top beak which helped somewhat since it was severely overhanging and she was unable to hold food. actually she did't mind it. I got her off the roost at night and she was still asleep I believe. Creamed corn is great to help nourish quickly. Chopped shreds of lettuce help. My little No Face is on the road to recovery! Good luck with divine intervention. Ya gotta try.