Curved hook beak & lump with tongue deformity

[Joy Cluck Club]

The threads I've read for curved/hook beaks (some like mine with lumps under the beak) have varied widely.

In my case, the curved/hook beak on my month old chick was accompanied by a rounded tongue.

The vet discovered her deformity when examining the bump beneath her lower beak. He felt around the mass and her tongue popped out of it.

Instead of growing straight, it grew into a spiral-like tendril. The lower beak was so small, there was no room for a tongue so it fused into a stiff circle that pressed into her neck just under the beak.

We agreed with the Dr. that she was likely uncomfortable and would never thrive so painlessly (for her at least) put her to rest.

Has anyone experienced this before? And if so, are there any surgical, non-surgical remedies?

 

[chickluvinfreak]

I'm not sure if this is the same thing that happened to your chick. But I had Cockerel about the same age who I took to the vet because he was wheezing, had trouble breathing and a huge crop. The vet found that his beak was abnormally short and it was causing food to get caught in his air way. Their is no treatment that I'm aware of and he was put down. It was a terrible experience . But hopefully treatment for severe beak deformities will be found soon.

 

[Corina k]

We have a 3 month old americauna with a lump under her very small bottom beak, and an extremely curved top beak. We trimmed her top beak and seperated her from the other chicks so she can have her own food and water. We aren't sure if we should just cull her though.

 

[gtaus]

I was talking to a local guy that raises show birds. He culls any bird with a deformity because he feels it is his responsibility to make sure only the best genes get propagated in his flock. I don't raise show birds, so I would probably only cull a bird if it was suffering. We don't have any vets around where I live that work with chickens, but in any case, I would not spend money on a vet visit. I figure that money would be better spent on caring for the rest of the flock. My 10 chicks are not quite livestock, but neither are they pets. If I can't personally fix a problem and the animal is suffering, it would have to be culled. I think you made the right choice for your bird and I appreciated your post. Best wishes.

 

[Corina k]

Thanks. We've decided it would be hest to cull her. Unfortunately.