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

[Aschenfire]

I wonder if Silkies are more predisposed to crossbeak than other breeds... I see a lot of Silkies in this thread, and my Misumi, little black Silkie girl has a slight crossbeak. I noticed it at about three weeks and she's 8 weeks old now, and *knocks on wood* it does not seem to be getting worse. Looks like I might have to keep her top beak trimmed to avoid overgrowth, but that's it.

She eats like a pig, forages with the rest of the flock, and acts more like a dog than a chicken. The rest go off into the yard when they are out for free range time and she will go out, then come stand near me, then back out, then come back to hang out and be picked up and loved...she is so adorable. I scooped her up today and was almost dreading feeling her crop, since I'd never really done it as shes been doing so well. It was stuffed full. This little girl is doing GREAT for being my "special" bird

 

[Nimby Chickens]

It's a great idea to give them time with maybe 1 other chick/chicken so they don't get lonely but they can have all the food they need without getting bullied.

I put Bird directly in the food bag and let her go at it for hours. She's a hoot, scratching around in there.

If you have a crossbeak and you do not think they are getting enough to eat, give them a deep dish of food - moistened and mashed helps - and tube feed if they can't get enough.

The severity of the crossbeak has a lot to do with the survival of the chick. I had another crossbeak that I could not save because it was so bad. I culled it because it was starving and I could not get a small enough tube in a reasonable amount of time (week shipping) and I did not want it to suffer. It had the worst crossbeak I have ever seen - the beak was almost a straight line, like scissors opened all the way. It was a silkie mix.

 

[artsyrobin]

noticed one of the chicks has a crossbeak, mama won't let me close enough to look-they are bantam faverolles, and it isn't so extreme as some i have seen here- is it genetic? still going through the thread- these were hatched from shipped eggs, so if it is genetic i may not want to use them for breeding...

 

[sleighton]

I'm new to Chickens and love it!! I have 2 Silver Seabrights, 2 Buff Orp, 2 NH Reds. The Seabrights are male and female, hatched 2/18/12.
The female has a cross beak, and the male is perfect of course (we need to get rid of him, no roosters in our neighborhood!)
This little girl seems to be ok, eating and drinking just fine. I just noticed today the cross beak is getting worse, and I am concerned about what is going to happen to her. The info I got from this form is great, and I know what my next step is if she stops eating, Thank you to everyone! Love this site!

 

[MadabtChickens]

My little girl passed today. I won't be trying to save these little babies anymore.

 

[artsyrobin]

MadabtChickensi am sorry, i know you tried, and that is very important, and i know she sensed that- hugs!









well, i have decided to give mine a chance, he runs and keeps up with the others, i know his prognosis is grim, but as long as he is not in distress, i will try-

 

[MadabtChickens]

Thank you! So far he doesn't look so bad. As my girl grew her beak got worse quickly and she was eating all the time. When she became half the size of the other chicks she was brooded with I decided she was suffering and ended it. She was still running around with the other chicks and had a full crop most of the time, but she used do much of her energy doing normal chick things that she wasn't growing normally. It just got really sad. I wish you the best with yours!

MadabtChickensi am sorry, i know you tried, and that is very important, and i know she sensed that- hugs!









well, i have decided to give mine a chance, he runs and keeps up with the others, i know his prognosis is grim, but as long as he is not in distress, i will try-

 

[NV Gunter]

Hi, I'm new here. I've been reading here for the last few days and when I found this thread I knew that I had to get an account.
I'm not usually one to post things, but I just had to say thank you for starting this thread. I had a cross beak EE, Dottie, a couple of years back. When she was brought home, her beak was almost normal. As she grew up it became progressively worse. When I went to the local feed store, their “Chicken Lady” told me that all I had to do was feed her out of a deep dish bowl. I stared doing that, but the other girls would push her off the bowl. So I started feeding her by sitting on the walk way and holding a blue dixie cup full of food instead. That worked well for her. I don't think she ever gave an egg and she was always under weight, but she had the best personality of all the girls. The second winter that I had her she died. I know now that she was probably malnourished and I wish that I would have had some of the advice here to help her out. So again, thank you.



So now for a funny story about why the color of the dixie cup was important in the above story. Dottie knew what color her cup was. You could walk around with any color of cup in the backyard, except blue. I'm not sure how much color chickens see, but she knew her cup one way or another.
One of the blue cups had escaped and was lying in the middle of the yard. I was standing in the kitchen watching the girls out the window when the guys who mow my lawn showed up. It was like slow motion, he bent down to pick up the cup and Dottie saw it. She came as fast as her little legs could carry her from across the yard and started doing “that” chicken jump at him. You know the one. The one that's all wings and chattering. Anyway the poor guy, it scared the heck out of him and he was yelling, “Oh my God! Oh my God!” at the top of his lungs . The other guys that were working with him were laughing and I was running out of the back door yelling “Drop the cup! Drop the cup!”. When he stopped yelling to take a breath and heard me yelling, he threw the cup a few feet away and she she followed it to where it landed. When she figured out that it was empty she came over to me for her for her treats. I always keep a bowl of scratch by the back door and had grabbed it on the run out. I apologized to the guy, but I don't think that he believed me because I was laughing so hard. It was funny as all get out. This story does not do it justice.
Sorry, that was kind of long winded, but I couldn't resist sharing that story about my cross beak. By no means was she stupid and because of all the hand feeding she was vary tame. My mother used to tease me that she was my “lap chicken”. So again, thank you for posting this thread to help promote awareness that you don't always have to euthanize a cross break chicken.

 

[artsyrobin]

i am laughing at that! oh my! yes, i think you are right, i wonder if adding nutrients to their water- extra things will help? thank you for sharing her!

Hi, I'm new here. I've been reading here for the last few days and when I found this thread I knew that I had to get an account.
I'm not usually one to post things, but I just had to say thank you for starting this thread. I had a cross beak EE, Dottie, a couple of years back. When she was brought home, her beak was almost normal. As she grew up it became progressively worse. When I went to the local feed store, their “Chicken Lady” told me that all I had to do was feed her out of a deep dish bowl. I stared doing that, but the other girls would push her off the bowl. So I started feeding her by sitting on the walk way and holding a blue dixie cup full of food instead. That worked well for her. I don't think she ever gave an egg and she was always under weight, but she had the best personality of all the girls. The second winter that I had her she died. I know now that she was probably malnourished and I wish that I would have had some of the advice here to help her out. So again, thank you.



So now for a funny story about why the color of the dixie cup was important in the above story. Dottie knew what color her cup was. You could walk around with any color of cup in the backyard, except blue. I'm not sure how much color chickens see, but she knew her cup one way or another.
One of the blue cups had escaped and was lying in the middle of the yard. I was standing in the kitchen watching the girls out the window when the guys who mow my lawn showed up. It was like slow motion, he bent down to pick up the cup and Dottie saw it. She came as fast as her little legs could carry her from across the yard and started doing “that” chicken jump at him. You know the one. The one that's all wings and chattering. Anyway the poor guy, it scared the heck out of him and he was yelling, “Oh my God! Oh my God!” at the top of his lungs . The other guys that were working with him were laughing and I was running out of the back door yelling “Drop the cup! Drop the cup!”. When he stopped yelling to take a breath and heard me yelling, he threw the cup a few feet away and she she followed it to where it landed. When she figured out that it was empty she came over to me for her for her treats. I always keep a bowl of scratch by the back door and had grabbed it on the run out. I apologized to the guy, but I don't think that he believed me because I was laughing so hard. It was funny as all get out. This story does not do it justice.
Sorry, that was kind of long winded, but I couldn't resist sharing that story about my cross beak. By no means was she stupid and because of all the hand feeding she was vary tame. My mother used to tease me that she was my “lap chicken”. So again, thank you for posting this thread to help promote awareness that you don't always have to euthanize a cross break chicken.

 

[chickenlover237]

really cool