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

[chicken pickin]

That is exactly what my chick looked like at that age. Sadly she starved and died at only 7 weeks old. I hope you have better luck with yours.

 

[Lobzi]

I gotta get a close up pic of my cross beak baby. Mine is thriving though he spends all his time trying to get nutrition. It is hard for him but with a little help from me (I give him special feedings at least once a day) he seems to be getting enough food to survive and grow. He is about 4 months old.

 

[realsis]

I also have a special cross beak girl
..she is our favorite .she's kind and motherly and purrs. She's a bit thin. I am greatful as of now she eats on her own but the older she gets the worse it gets.i did buy a tube in case it comes to that. I try to feed mash every day
I've noticed she's last in the pecking order also. Even under my 3 month olds.she is 41/2 months old. I try very very hard to keep her beak trimmed up.sometimes it will bleed if i accidently get the quick and i feel so badly! Do you have any tips or suggestions for me? If yes please pm me with them.i love her so much its soon hard.also I'm so sorry you lost your baby.that is very sad. My thoughts are with you! Any help or suggestions for mine is greatly appreciated! I'm willing to do what it takes to help her. When i bought her and realized she was handicapped the breeder said to send her back and i could get another bird but i didn't becausei knew her fate if i returned her so i ddidn't want that to happen and of course i kept her because i love her. I just want to help her the best i can. Please advise. Thank you kindly.

 

[Katazyna]

i have a hen with a slight cross and its about 1 year old now and has not had any problems so far its able to eat plenty and get around with the other hens.

 

[Katazyna]

So this little guy was dubbed Greg by the girls at the store we purchase our chicks. they said its blind and as you can see its beak is also twisted. not sue what causes such things to happen but, i decided to take it home and give greg a fighting chance but he does not seem to be eating or drinking very well. i try to help him find the food and water and he will just randomly try to peck at it without much success. i think he can see out of his one eye but its just his skull is messed up as well and the eye is small and does not looks straight as it should its sort of directed down and he has it closed most of the time the eye you can see if it is even there does not open at all i want to help this little guy but am not sure what else i can do for him and i know the easiest thing to do but would rather not have to...

i have read some great things on the page but i guess i have concerns about this poor little guy will he/she ever be able to function on its own? i have a feeling it might not be able to and i am not sure if i am going to be able to put in the extra time to care for the poor thing.

 

[Katazyna]

also he is a meat bird so i dont know if that worsens the prognosis or not

 

[Nimby Chickens]

You may be able to save him. Meat birds are only built to last about 10 weeks. They eat too much/organs fail.

This guy may have a blessing in disguise - if he can't eat too much he may be able to lead a longer life.

He looks ilke he has a skull deformity, causing the crossbeak, and probably will not get worse like most crossbeaks do. My Bird is that way. Just let him eat as much as he wants, you may need to make him a chick mash, get him some poly-vi-sol without iron for vitamins, make sure he is on chick food (18% protein) or for extra nutrition you can stick him on a gamebird formula (20%+ protein)

If you can, just stick the little bugger IN the food bag with a buddy (so he doesn't chirp and freak out) and let him go to town eating.

 

[HollyDelightly]

I'm a first-time chicken owner and I just found out I have a special needs crossbeak baby. I just spent the last two hours reading all 44 pages and falling in love with the stories of Broke Beak, Bernard, and others, so I gotta be honest, I'm totally disheartened- so many of them keep fighting, and props to you mommies and daddies that fight the good fight, but it seems like not many make it, and those that do don't seem to live normal, happy, and well functioning lives.

Four days ago, I saw my 3wk old Amerauana's beak was a tiny bit "off". It was fine until then. Now, after only a couple days, she's here:




She's considerably more frantic than the Cinnamon Queen, but because these girls are my first experience raising chickens I don't know if this is normal or not or if she's already desperately trying to survive. She's a week younger also, so I can't really compare their size to know if she's growing properly. At this point she preens and poops (so she must be digesting something), but I can't find a full crop and she more scoops food around than seems to be successfully eating. I'm going to start weighing her every day to make sure she's putting on weight. @AngryBirds, our chickies are about the same age and are the same breed- how is your girl doing?

Really, I just need a support group, because I'm really bummed. From what I've researched, this is a skull deformity more than just a jaw deformity, which can lead to major problems when it starts affecting the brain. I just want to be a good momma and do what's right for her, even if that's letting her go.

 

[BullChick]

I'm a first-time chicken owner and I just found out I have a special needs crossbeak baby. I just spent the last two hours reading all 44 pages and falling in love with the stories of Broke Beak, Bernard, and others, so I gotta be honest, I'm totally disheartened- so many of them keep fighting, and props to you mommies and daddies that fight the good fight, but it seems like not many make it, and those that do don't seem to live normal, happy, and well functioning lives.

Four days ago, I saw my 3wk old Amerauana's beak was a tiny bit "off". It was fine until then. Now, after only a couple days, she's here:




She's considerably more frantic than the Cinnamon Queen, but because these girls are my first experience raising chickens I don't know if this is normal or not or if she's already desperately trying to survive. She's a week younger also, so I can't really compare their size to know if she's growing properly. At this point she preens and poops (so she must be digesting something), but I can't find a full crop and she more scoops food around than seems to be successfully eating. I'm going to start weighing her every day to make sure she's putting on weight. @AngryBirds, our chickies are about the same age and are the same breed- how is your girl doing?

Really, I just need a support group, because I'm really bummed. From what I've researched, this is a skull deformity more than just a jaw deformity, which can lead to major problems when it starts affecting the brain. I just want to be a good momma and do what's right for her, even if that's letting her go.

I have said it before, so I am sure you have seen it. Look into fermenting your feed for your whole flock. Wetting the food is fine too. It helps her to pick up the food. Fermenting for the whole flock means everyone is getting extra protein, probiotics, etc. She can eat when she is hungry, and not wait for you to have time to separate her from the flock, and feed her.
Cadbury went from eating dry food a large portion of the time, to eating the FF a few times a day. She cannot forage, but she tries. Now she has time to run around and just be a (somewhat) normal chicken.

 

[ShanRo]

I am brand new the raising chickens so I started with 5. One of them ended up being a crossbeak.

This is my little crossbeak. She was my favorite of my birds. Every morning when I turned on the kitchen light she would run up to the top of the cage to try to look in the window. As soon as I opened the back door she would run back down to the bottom and wait for me and hop right out of the cage as soon as I opened it. She would sit on my shoulder as I got fresh food and water for the other girls just as happy as can be. Despite her beak she tried to eat and drink and I tried to hand feed her some too. As the girls neared 6 weeks old the difference in size between her and the others was significant and I knew that I could not care for her the way she needed. I could not stand to watch her starve. I was able to find a lady about a mile from me that takes in special needs farm animals. I miss her dearly, especially every morning when I go greet the girls but she is in much better hands and now has a chance to live.