cross beak- PICS PLEASE HELP!

[nursecat9]

She made it thru the night....I saw her attempting to eat a little last night, but don't think she got any. Took a little sugar water this am. Guess we'll keep tryin...

 

[fourfeathers]

Keep trying, she can live a good life with a crossed beak. Get some pedialyte and give her a bit of that mixed with water and her crumbles. Be very careful when giving diluted food or liquid that you don't accidently aspirate. I usually let them try to take it off a syringe a tiny bit at a time. It takes a lot of time! I used deep lid caps of jars to put food in for my little, slow to thrive ones. Sometimes with the crossed beaks they may peck the metal chick feeder if you have that kind and it may 'zing' their beak, so I use plastic since it isn't as hard. Then, for adults I use deep rubber bowls. She will probably need a deep bowl as an adult. Mine cannot pick things up individually but can scoop. He has learned too, when I pull on his wattle that he opens his beak a little to get a raisin treat slipped in. I trimmed or filed mine each week while he was a baby to get his used to the procedure. I used kitten nail trimmers or people clippers because the beak is so soft, then filed with an emory board. BEST to only take a little at a time! I quicked mine and felt so bad, it bled and bled. Learned my lesson. So, if you think you might take too much, stop, and only do a tiny bit. Mine did break his beak, never knew how, at 4 mos old. It bled and I had to handfeed for a day. I put ambisol on it then to help with the pain. He is a big strong roo now. One plus, he can't peck me....more like bumps against me with his beak. He was a strong chick as a baby so he did have that going for him.

 

[nursecat9]

Thanks for the encouragement. I watered her mash way down, and had to show her how to scoop with her lower beak. I've been using a dropper/syringe to give her fluids and also the mash. We're trying!

 

[Emzyyy]

I put my crossbeaked hen into a fish tank full of seed about a few inches deep and shut the lid and leave her in there a few times a day to eat she can scratch to her heart's disire and not make a mess and can easily eat. Her name is Felicity "Felix for short."

 

[WingingIt]

I have an EE that's got a crossbeak, too. I tried using the trimmers and took the tiniest snip and she bled for 20 minutes with me doing everything I could think of to stop it. From then on I've been using a big nail file and just do enough to make it easier to eat. She eats and drinks on her own and is the same size as the others. So far, so good. Good luck!

 

[nursecat9]

So the mash is almost too big. Could I mix protein powder with yogurt for a creamier, easier to swallow mixture. When she poos it's almost all just water, with a very, very minute amount of fecal matter, so I know she's not getting much of the mash. She's not getting the scoop method, so she's mostly only getting the water that I can suck up in the syringe to feed her. To her credit, she did finally stick her head way down into the feeder to try to eat. She does seem to be getting skinnier! I won't let her suffer much longer, but for my dd and myself, (I'm a nurse!) I have to give it my all. Any other suggestions would be great. Thanks again!

 

[keliejc]

I am glad you are giving the chick a chance. I also have an EE hen with a severely crossed beak. Sandy is a tenacious survivor, over a year old now, and even lays a small egg once in a while. Every morning I am in the habit of taking the previous day's leftovers out to the hens and I always have something special for Sandy. I have a special bowl for her, deep with curved sides, that she can scoop out of easily. She licks/slurps it up, then shakes her head and whatever has gotten on her face flys everywhere! She takes longer to eat than the rest of the flock, so I put her bowl in the coop while the rest eat in their pen. Here is what I have had success with:

Plain, whole milk yogurt mixed with some half and half to make it creamier,

small curd cottage cheese mixed with half and half,

homemade creamed corn (canned has added sugar and salt), which is corn kernals run through the blender with added half and half or yogurt or cottage cheese

runny cooked plain oatmeal, again mixed with half and half

I have also blended any combination of the above with anything that adds nutrition: turnip greens, spinach, wheat germ, peas, green beans, anything chickens can eat. It just has to be a loose, wet mixture that she can scoop and lick. I don't recommend adding regular cheese - it becomes gluey in the mixtures and she can't eat it.

Sandy also eats regular crumbles - the finest I can get - in a standard metal hanging feeder that is always kept full. She is good at digging her beak into the feed and scooping it out. This causes quite a mess, but the other hens peck some of it up. Sandy also goes out in the yard to forage with the rest of the flock - she can't peck up a worm to save her life, but she scoops up soil. Maybe she's getting nutrients from the soil microbes. She always comes back to the coop with a full crop, happily. I do trim her beak once in a while, with my dog's bypass-style nail clippers. I once cut too close and would up having to hold her until the bleeding stopped, so I'm extra careful now.

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[Emzyyy]

Quote:
OOO Ill have to try some of this for Felix. Felix can eat fancy scratch feed as long as the dish is deep enough. I was thinking she might like applesauce.

 

[Freckle Face Farm]

Heres my black silkie.He ate crumble when he was little but I keep him seperate so I know he is eating he is quit a bit smaller then the rest... When he was little we gave him wet crumble applesauce sugar free and cottage cheese...
But he eats fine as an adult I give him fresh corn I just have to take it off the kernal for him..

 

[nursecat9]

Thanks for all of the encouragement!

I mixed up some yogurt, milled flax seed, and half and half, along with a smidge of protein powder. She ate all of it with the dropper....approximately 5ml's or a teaspoon. She seemed to really like it, and let me place it on her beak with very little fight. She also pood twice when we were done eating, and it was poo! Both times! Maybe we're headed on the right road. Thanks again for all of the food suggestions! and I'll keep everyone posted!