Diary of a Crossbeak: Support for Special Needs Chickens and their Keepers

[Lobzi]

I havent read through the thread yet but wanted to introduce my crossbeak chick. She is 2 weeks and 3 days old today with a very pronounced cross beak. She is my very first cross beak chick and hopefully my last

I feel for her

My kids have named her Peaches

This is about the severity of my little guy. He is doing fine so far (about 2 months Im guessing). Since I bring him food in a cup when I go to feed the others he is now running to me every time I go into the yard. I hate it when I forget to bring him something. He does seem to be scavenging for food constantly so I know it is hard for him to get his fill. Good luck to your family with Peaches. Just let her do her best. I didnt even notice I had a cross beaked baby until he was well over a month old and he was doing fine without my special help.

 

[coloradogal]

Having not read through the 40 pages... has anyone tried splinting the beaks together overnight?

 

[BullChick]

Having not read through the 40 pages... has anyone tried splinting the beaks together overnight?

No, no one has mentioned doing it. I think it would hurt the chick, and possibly break the jaw.

 

[backroomtreasures]

Thanks for sharing this. So many people don't want to deal with special needs chickens. I love them and think they are worth the extra trouble. I have a cross beak silkie. It is very severe. So far she can eat if I keep her dish very full. We keep her with two other silkies that are small and very mild. Her name is Edwinna. She is so very sweet. She is a very light weight though. I hope I don't have to end up feeding her from a tube. But if so, thanks for the info. I could never just cull her. We will always do our best to take care of her.

 

[NooNoo]

Hi all the new Cross-beak parents, hope you are all doing well & take the time to wade through all the posts, it is helpful & encouraging ! Don't give up, try find what works for you & your Cross beak...all are different, you may need to try a few things...
My Cross-beak Bekkie is 10mths. She chases bugs & forages with the others, not very successfully most times. We have clipped her top beak 3 times now, usually I can tell when it is time as she becomes obsessed with me in the yard, constantly looking for food. Once it has been trimmed I get the big ignore !! She never liked the mash trick, but prefers pellets, so we have tied a 1 kg yoghurt tub to the side of the run fence, I check several times a day that it is full so she has the depth she needs, it seems to work. She is fiercly independant and protects her tub from the others ! In the mornings when I let the ladies out of the run I always throw some scratch grain for them, keeping back some in a yoghurt tub for Miss Bekkie...if I am too slow to bend down for her she will jump up against me to remind me she is waiting !!
We made a decision in the beginning that if she was unable to get sufficient food without tube feeding then we would euthanise her as I would not have the time to tube feed her. Thankfully she is coping really well, I wish she could eat greens more easily but otherwise I cannot complain when I look at how severe some cases are !

 

[jbs]

Having not read through the 40 pages... has anyone tried splinting the beaks together overnight?

I'm very interested in this as well (I just finished reading thru the 40 pages specifically looking for this info and did not find it). One of my 2.5 week old chicks has just developed cross beak. I lost 6 of 15 chicks already due to shipping problems and would like to do everything I can for this chick. I've found some success stories with parrots having their beaks pushed back into place with therapy, rubber bands and cable ties, etc., and it seems that if it's caught early enough (at least in parrots), it can be corrected.

This is one site I found, there are detailed instructions and photos of a scissor beak correction in a cockatoo:

http://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/avmed/cam/14_gastrointestinal.pdf

I read on a different site that if the beak can be pushed back into alignment with a finger (again this is dealing with parrots), it can be successfully corrected with physical therapy. That site recommends slightly overcorrecting the beak when you push it into place - if you do it properly it will be slightly uncomfortable for the chick, so they recommend giving it some sort of treat afterward. The site says to do this at least a few times a day. It recommends this treatment for chicks, as once they reach adulthood, the beak won't be flexible enough for this to work.

I wonder if the success stories are in parrots rather than chickens because parrot owners are more willing to seek vet care, or are parrot beaks easier to correct due to their shape or some other factor. I don't see how I can possibly get a rubber band to stay on my chick's beak, but I'd like to try banding it together at night. If anyone has any experience doing something like this I'd love to hear from you.

 

[coloradogal]

I'm very interested in this as well (I just finished reading thru the 40 pages specifically looking for this info and did not find it). One of my 2.5 week old chicks has just developed cross beak. I lost 6 of 15 chicks already due to shipping problems and would like to do everything I can for this chick. I've found some success stories with parrots having their beaks pushed back into place with therapy, rubber bands and cable ties, etc., and it seems that if it's caught early enough (at least in parrots), it can be corrected.

This is one site I found, there are detailed instructions and photos of a scissor beak correction in a cockatoo:

http://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/avmed/cam/14_gastrointestinal.pdf

I read on a different site that if the beak can be pushed back into alignment with a finger (again this is dealing with parrots), it can be successfully corrected with physical therapy. That site recommends slightly overcorrecting the beak when you push it into place - if you do it properly it will be slightly uncomfortable for the chick, so they recommend giving it some sort of treat afterward. The site says to do this at least a few times a day. It recommends this treatment for chicks, as once they reach adulthood, the beak won't be flexible enough for this to work.

I wonder if the success stories are in parrots rather than chickens because parrot owners are more willing to seek vet care, or are parrot beaks easier to correct due to their shape or some other factor. I don't see how I can possibly get a rubber band to stay on my chick's beak, but I'd like to try banding it together at night. If anyone has any experience doing something like this I'd love to hear from you.

I tried banding the little chick at night but I couldn't effectively keep it on its beak.

 

[Brookliner]

Dentists use a kind of super glue to put braces on. I wonder if you could super glue a bump on the top and bottom of the beak that would keep the band in place on a chick you could use the same rubberbands that they use on braces. I don't mean to glue the band in place but to just create a bump that will keep the rubber band in place when it is on.

 

[jbs]

I want to try a rubber band, even tho it sounds like my chick will probably be able to get it off. I looked for orthodontics rubber bands at my local pharmacy today but wasn't able to find them. I can buy them online, but my chick's beak is a bit worse each day and time is of the essence.

I've also been wondering about super glue. If i could super glue a tiny rod or something to the right side of my chick's upper beak, it would keep the lower beak pushed into alignment. But if it was semi permanent, I'd have to make sure that she could eat. I think time is running out for this chick and if the rubber bands don't work, I may try rigging up some weird device with super glue.

 

[coloradogal]

I want to try a rubber band, even tho it sounds like my chick will probably be able to get it off. I looked for orthodontics rubber bands at my local pharmacy today but wasn't able to find them. I can buy them online, but my chick's beak is a bit worse each day and time is of the essence.

I've also been wondering about super glue. If i could super glue a tiny rod or something to the right side of my chick's upper beak, it would keep the lower beak pushed into alignment. But if it was semi permanent, I'd have to make sure that she could eat. I think time is running out for this chick and if the rubber bands don't work, I may try rigging up some weird device with super glue.

My chick is now over a month old and she eats the mash I make for her. She can pick up big things on the ground to eat but not little things. I'm going to keep her as there is something to be said of perseverance. =) They aren't integrated in the bigger flock yet but suspect she'll hold her own.