Crossed Beak

[Goldlaced_Girl]

One of our gorgeous Gold Laced Wayndotte Pullets, about 9-10 weeks old, has a crossed beak. It has only recently come to our attention (within the last few weeks) and it seems to be getting worse. she seems to be eating and drinking okay so far. Is there anything we can do?

 

[Jenski]

If you have steady hands and nerves of steel you could try filing it down with a dremmel fitted with a sandpaper tip - - I have done this myself on birds when their beaks are a bit long, and it would certainly help with your girl. Don't think it will fix her case completely, but it will help.

If you decide to do this, be very careful, go slowly, have a helper, and ONLY file off the clear tip of the top beak (see where the color changes in the photo?). Be careful you don't nip the tongue with the dremmel.

And if that seems a bit too stressful, a good vet can do this as well. I watched mine do it before I tried it at home.

Good luck!

 

[Goldlaced_Girl]

Thanks! I can see if my vet will do it first

 

[WingingIt]

I have an EE that has a crossed beak, too. I read online here and other search results and saw that others have trimmed theirs. I tried snipping the teeniest bit off with one of those dog nail trimmers (others said they used them) and I thought she was going to bleed to death in my hands before I could get it stopped and to stay stopped.

The next time I used one of those big nail files with the rough stuff on one side and the smoother stuff on the other. It took a lot longer but there was no bleeding and after a few minutes she settled down in my lap and quit fighting me over it.

So far, so good, on her eating and drinking. Good luck!

 

[ChooksChick]

I have a roo whose beak is like that, only his top is straight, bottom crossed. I feed him in a parrot cup attached to the side of the coop- the deep bowl make it easy for him to shovel.

He's bigger than the others his age (14 weeks) and does fine!