cross beaked hen: what should i do?

[pnuts]

i just yesterday bought a chicken at an auction but i didnt realize until after i bought it and took a closer look saw that it had a crossed beak. its a young hen that isnt laying yet and is small and grey. she might be an americana but i'm not sure.
when she eats she spills most of it even in a deep bowl and when she is in the main pen with the other hens later on i'm afraid they are going to be mean to her and she wont get enough food. i'm also afraid i'm going to have to drive for 60 minutes every week to go buy a new bag of chicken food cause shes wasting it all lol.
four of my other hens were debeaked before i got them and i feel bad for them because they look really silly. not that the one with the crossed bill doesn't look ridiculous.
what should i do? how do you debeak chicken if youre a huge wuss? i have a dog toenail clipper??? omg

 

[purelypoultry]

I am not sure if de-beaking the cross beaked hen would solve the problem. The term usually used is crooked beak.

I myself personally do not believe in debeaking but you can try if you want to.

 

[pnuts]

i just keep getting mixed advice so i'm not sure how to go about it: (
it doesnt look like its fun for the birds but maybe at least if her beak was semi straight she could groom herself and eat a little better? maybe not though idk

oh and thank you she has a crooked beak:^]

 

[newchicksnducks]

I have a crooked beaked EE who is now over a year old. She is doing well weight wise. She IS a messy eater, and spills quite a bit. I feed her layer pellets from a deeper dished homemade feeder. The others seem to help in the clean up!

She doesn't free range as well - I don't think she can eat the bugs and grass as well. She'll get right in the midst tho when I offer yogurt or watermelon. Crooked-Beak lays wonderful olive-y green/blue eggs on a regular basis. If you don't mind the bit of mess she may make eating, your girl might do well!

 

[chickerdoodle]

I have a crooked beak BLRW pullet, named Hyacinth. Her beak looked normal until about 4 weeks of age and it has gotten progressively worse. Now, at 14 weeks of age the top is curved over the bottom and it doesn't really meet up well with the bottom part. I solved the problem by doing the following:

Bought a 19" Plastic Dura Trough that is deeper than the ubiquitous metal troughs sold at the feed stores. I keep it at just below her back level so she doesn't have to work hard to get the mash into the back of her throat. I have 5 pullets and they all eat out of it fine and Hyacinth eats just fine out of it--a full crop very day! There is enough food for more than a day but I use some of what's left in the trough for their daily moist mash (so they get the vitamins and minerals that is left o the bottom).

Here's the cheapest place I found it: http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/dura_trough_feeders.html only $28 with shipping!
Here's a picture: http://www.strombergschickens.com/products/feeders_trough.php (you can enlarge the picture)

I LOVE IT!! LOVE IT!!

Every morning I give them a moist mash in a deep bowl (about 3"). They all love it! Hyacinth eats a ton of it too. They all act like its a real treat and look forward to it.

Hyacinth can shovel all the food down (she's very good with her tongue, LOL) with these methods and much less waste.

Hyacinth at 13 weeks
her beak is much worse from the front--the top and bottom don't meet practically at all! Poor baby cannot get pick up grass herself (she tries) so I give her pieces of organic spring lettuce.