Crossed beak not putting on wt. @ same rate. *New Pics*

[Knock Kneed Hen]

I've already posted this on a couple of threads but I'm trying to be helpful by completing any information I post so that any future readers that pull up this thread have the complete story. Sorry to be so redundant.

I had to have this bird culled today. I discovered that she was missing the end of her tongue and the rest of her tongue was dying. I think that in her attempts to feed she was biting down on it.

 

[gpamela3499]

 

[BarkerChickens]

I am so sorry!!

 

[Kim_NC]

Awwhhh, so sorry. But you did the right thing.

 

[the lone rhubarb]

Oh I'm sorry

I have an EE with a crossed beak and she is the funnest hen ever!!!! She follows me everywhere
in the coop and when I open the bin to feed them she always jumps in and eats while I'm scooping fed into the
feeder!!!! She is a liiiittle smaller then the other 2 EE's but not bad. I got her as a chick and she is like 2 or 3 years
old now and very happy and healthy as far as I can tell. She also lays me pretty green & blue eggs.

 

[Gypsi]

Well, I am still considering hand-feeding. Grandkids are coming this weekend. Penguin works so hard to eat and eat, Any instructions on how to hand feed? I'm thinking chick feed with water to make a mash?

 

[PtldChick]

That's a pretty extreme cross beak for such a young looking chick, considering they get worse over time as the skull grows. And it's the bottom beak, too, which is tougher for the bird to eat.

If you want to hand feed, try using baby parrot food with a syringe. It's high protein and a powder so it mixes up easily and you can make it any consistency you want; I'd do as thick as you can get it to go through the syringe. The more watery, the more you'll have to feed.

Good luck with hand feeding; it's likely you will have to do that its entire life to keep it from starving. At some point, you may have to make a very tough decision.

 

[Gypsi]

The tough decision will have to wait until after my grandkids visit this coming weekend, in 4 days. We will talk. (I put an old dog down before they got to say goodbye once - he was my dog, he was old, but I had frantic grandkids.)

Thank you.

Gypsi

 

[Gypsi]

And when the time comes, is there a thread for how to put a chick down humanely? yegads, this is not fun.

 

[The Little Country Farm]

Thank you for this post! Last year I hatched some barred rock eggs and 1 of the chicks had a cross beak. From looking at the other photos my chicks' was really severe. Both beaks was pointing in completely different directions from day one. I did everything to try to keep it alive but it didn't even live 2 weeks. I'm guessing it had other problems besides its beak. It didn't act like a normal chick. I didn't know this was so common.