Crossed beak

[truechick]

I have a hen that has a crossed beak she seems to be getting enough to eat. Do their beaks continue to grow like finger nails? Can anyone give good directions [ with pics] on how to trim the beak?
Hope with better eating she might give me some eggs!

Thanks!

 

[lurky]

Hi. This is my cross beak. I have never trimmed her beak and i do not know if i need to. I provide her food and treats in a dish that she can scoop things up with the bottom beak. She is one of my biggest chickens. I think you will figure out if she needs help as you go.
Here she is:

 

[truechick]

Yours looks alot like mine. Crossie is smaller than most of the others and she is always one of the first to show up for food. She is able to eat out of the dishes but when there are treats she has a hard time getting any.
Kind of reminds of eating with chopsticks.

 

[lurky]

I put the treats in here special dish too. she knows that the dish is hers too. I keep her in my bantam coop, and she is taller being a standard pullet.......so i put it high enough that she can reach it, but not so easy for the little ones. A good treat for them is if you hard boil eggs and chop them very small as if for egg salad, but no mayo.......and put them in a dish that she can scoop them up. Mine loves that. Some cross beaks are much worse than my girl. I think you should post a picture of yours

 

[Fowl-Language]

My roo, Montgomery Ward, has a very crossed beak so the food & water has to be in a deep dish that he can stick his whole face in. Periodically I trim his beak with nail clippers, although I'm realizing I need to get one of those thingys you trim dog's claws with. I'm careful to snip just a little at a time, since they will bleed if you cut too far back.
He is alittle on the scrawny side, so I make sure to give him thigs like oatmeal and finely mashed scrambled eggs frequently. His deformity does NOT slow him down in any way, however!
Good luck!!

 

[truechick]

I'll try to get a pic tomorrow. Then i'll try to figure out how to post it!

MY girls are only semi friendly if it dosn't envolve food!

 

[denasfarm]

Our 2yo Madison has a severe case of cross beak and cannot feed herself other than liquids. We trim her beak a couple of times a year but it bleeds a gusher! You need to be ready with blood stop and pressure bandages to stop it.

We feed Madison dog food by hand twice a day. She is smaller than most in the flock but is one of the leaders and one of my best layers.

Its more trouble than most people would deal with and a pain when we go off finding a special needs bird sitter but she has a great personality and an important part of our little farm.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I have 2 crossed beak chickens.
One is a Silkie roo and though he has a hard time eating, he isn't shy or a push over. I feed him out of a deep dog dish set up on a concrete block. I make a mush almost every day for some other chickens and the Guinea pigs so I make him some mush, too. And I leave it dry but he always has wheat bran, alfalfa meal, oatmeal, flaxseed meal, super cell vitamins and wheat germ oil mixed in together. I have to put his water dish up pretty high so he can easily scoop up the water to drink. He does okay.

The other cross beak is a young 9 wk old SLW pullet. I am not sure how she will do. I have been trimming her beak since I first noticed it turning but it hasn't helped. It is a skull deformity and most often I don't believe trimming helps a lot. It can keep the beak from being too overgrown but maybe not straighten it back out.
I trim the beak on the Silkie also but only to try and keep it easier for him to use. I have not been able to find any way to trim the beaks so they can be more useful or less crossed, though I keep trying and researching.

 

[sandypaws]

i have 2 bantie cochins with cross beaks... i trim them every 3 months or so.. i use a dog nail clipper AND i always have "Kwik stop" on hand for when they bleed... quick stop is made for when dogs nails get cut to short (quicked) and they bleed,, you put this powder on the tip of the nail (or beak)..
it is a styptic powder made FOR this reason... i always have some on hand..
they seam to eat just fine,, i always have bowls of food, as well as scratch thrown about...

 

[truechick]

Here is her picture. She seems to eat and drink OK. I just thought that if she didn't have to work so hard to eat she could maybe be a productive member of the flock. I've never seen her on the nest.