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

[brittfish]

Hello my little buckle her beaks are straight but top beak is longer and curves (which we try to keep files down) and bottom beak is much smaller in length then the top beak. You said you feed your bird by feeding tube. How do you do this and how often do you do this

Kathy

Can you post a picture? Feeding tube isn't too difficult to do but I think personally would be traumatic daily for you and the chicken. When my cross beak ripped the outside of her top beak off we did a feeding tube with baby bird formula and unflavored pedialyte twice daily for maybe a week my partner would hold her wrapped in a towel with one hand around her neck. I got a red rubber catheter size 8 I think and lubricated it with olive oil. Held her head back and (because her mouth is always open I didn't have to do that) slid the tube down the right side of her throat (her right). I also tube fed our sick rooster and sometimes it took both of us to open his beak but once it was open I held it open and onto the top beak. I usually did 2 35 cc syringes each time (they were both full grown) until their crops felt full. I would try to find a way for her to eat on her own though either with a deep dish, crumbles or wet mash like I make for my cross beak. It was stressful for me to do the feeding tube mentally. They didn't like it so I felt bad. My cross beaks beak heed enough where she would dip it in food again so we could stop tubing her and unfortunately we had to euthanize our rooster as he didn't respond to treatment. Maybe supplement with tube feeding until she gets the hang of eating. They are amazingly adaptable and I'm sure could learn to eat.

*tips.... if your doing more than one syringe of food/formula (I was never able to get chicken feed thin enough to pass through and made the formula as think as possible to pass through the tube) have it all ready to go and set up before you pass the tube

Also I'm not sure if it was actually helpful or not but I would tear a little piece of cotton off a cotton ball to hold in front of the tube when it was placed to make sure no air was passing through it. Not sure it would even move if it was actually in the lung but it made me feel better sometimes my boyfriend said he could feel the tube in the crop.
Also measure from the beak to the crop on the outside of the bird so you have an idea how much should be sticking out when you're in there.

Good luck!! Keep us posted

 

[Skink]

With regular trimming and filing, my little crossbeak's beak stopped being misaligned! Her beak now is perfectly center. It has been more than a month, she is eating well, has caught up with her siblings, and can close her mouth just like a regular chicken! Does this mean her crossbeak isn't genetic? I figure if it was a skull deformity, no amount of tending could ever truly correct the issue. A crooked jaw is a crooked jaw, right? If in the next few months her crossbeak does not re-occur, I think I'll take her to the vet for x-rays to see if all is really well beyond the surface.

When researching possible treatments on a surgical level (I want to be prepared to do everything possible for her,) I read it can be caused by injury to the beak's live tissue, even during seemingly innocuous events like banging it wrong while hatching. That seems like a possibility for her, as she had trouble hatching. She started to zip and suddenly stopped. I had to finish her zip for her, and she kicked out in an instant. She was tender for the first couple days of her life, not weak or lethargic, but she only seemed to eat as much as she needed to without much zest and didn't go around pecking at everything and got a bit picked on by her siblings as a result. I didn't think much of it when it stopped being a problem on its own. Maybe they were connected, and she is one of the lucky ones

 

[Book Em Danno25]

I just found this thread. im glad you started it!

 

[The ThymeKeeper]

Glad to hear her beak is now corrected! I didn't know anything about cross beaks with my first girl. Her's is severely crossed but, at a year and a half old, she does great ~ rules the roost! I may soon be granted the adoption of a mildly cross beaked two month old. I had been wondering too if, by working on it early, it might get corrected. Good to read your post ~ Thanks!

 

[Wyleiria]

What are the chances of this bad case being able to eat normally when she is older? I am thinking she is around 3-4 weeks now. She was as big as the other chicks and I felt bad so she is the one I went home with

 

[brittfish]

What are the chances of this bad case being able to eat normally when she is older? I am thinking she is around 3-4 weeks now. She was as big as the other chicks and I felt bad so she is the one I went home with

Probably won't be able to eat dry food at least my cross beak can't. I just mix water and layer crumbles to make an oatmeal like consistency and she has taught herself to scoop it with her top beak and uses her neck to get it down her throat. Her beak started shifting at 6 days old and now her bottom beak is perpendicular to her top. We started the moist food when she was little and didn't get enough to eat I don't think until we started feeding her separate because everyone loves the mash. Now.. well.. she lives inside and will be turning 1 next week. She's very healthy and I'm pretty sure the most spoiled chicken ever. She loves her flock of people, cats and her dog. Doesn't get along with the chicken flock anymore but it's okay we love having a house chicken although she is a lot of work. Totally worth it. We fed her chick starter then grower until she started laying eggs now it's layer feed. And a square baking dish that we use for her water dish. Good luck. I know you will love having a pet chicken she is so bonded to us.

 

[yellowherb]

So glad to see this! I have a little Sultan who is 3 days old now with a pretty bad crossed beak. Is there anything I can do at this stage in it's life to help realign it?

I'll start it on mash tomorrow. It's been eating ground up chick starter and I have seen it drinking, seems to take it longer to get a proper drink than it's siblings do. When it hatched the beak was not very noticeable, in fact I didn't notice it for hours!

I am used to hand feeding small birds like cockatiels and budgies. I even have a crop needle if needed (wish I had a catheter tube but I don't yet).

 

[artsyrobin]

So glad to see this! I have a little Sultan who is 3 days old now with a pretty bad crossed beak. Is there anything I can do at this stage in it's life to help realign it?

I'll start it on mash tomorrow. It's been eating ground up chick starter and I have seen it drinking, seems to take it longer to get a proper drink than it's siblings do. When it hatched the beak was not very noticeable, in fact I didn't notice it for hours!

I am used to hand feeding small birds like cockatiels and budgies. I even have a crop needle if needed (wish I had a catheter tube but I don't yet).

most of the crossbeaks are a skull misalignment, so later on other than keeping the beak filed, the best you an do is deep feed dishes, higher protein, as they do need a little extra calories- sometimes second feed dish, so there is always some available for them- i have never had to tube feed mine, i have 4 with varying severity- play with the consistancy of the feed, some need drier some almost sticky

 

[Wyleiria]

Probably won't be able to eat dry food at least my cross beak can't. I just mix water and layer crumbles to make an oatmeal like consistency and she has taught herself to scoop it with her top beak and uses her neck to get it down her throat. Her beak started shifting at 6 days old and now her bottom beak is perpendicular to her top. We started the moist food when she was little and didn't get enough to eat I don't think until we started feeding her separate because everyone loves the mash. Now.. well.. she lives inside and will be turning 1 next week. She's very healthy and I'm pretty sure the most spoiled chicken ever. She loves her flock of people, cats and her dog. Doesn't get along with the chicken flock anymore but it's okay we love having a house chicken although she is a lot of work. Totally worth it. We fed her chick starter then grower until she started laying eggs now it's layer feed. And a square baking dish that we use for her water dish. Good luck. I know you will love having a pet chicken she is so bonded to us.

Wow thanks for this response! The lady at the feed store said the chick was eating and drinking fine, and I have a soft heart for the special needs ones. However, I think if it go to the point of not being able to eat without tube feeding, then it becomes a QOL factor and I wouldn't want to do that. I feed my chickens wet mash sometimes so this will not be an issue if it comes down to it. She has had a full crop since she came home with me and ate without competing with 20 other chicks. Yay!

 

[yellowherb]

I have a 30% protein feed for my quail so I'll try little CeeBee on it. Although it is in great shape today and I did not feed mash. I checked him earlier and he had a nice full crop. Since there are some quail that hatched with the chicken chicks I have been feeding them a lot of the powdered 30% food (powdered since quail are tiny) and the normal chicken starter crumbles. CeeBee has been able to eat the powdered easily.