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

[Coralietg]

He just passed away in my hand. He went downhill so quick, I'm kind of confused. Did he get too cold on his own? It's 70 in the house and he's fully feathered, I thought he would be OK.

At least he had a chance, he got to run in the grass and sunbathe. I'll miss the little bugger.

 

[Nimby Chickens]

Sounds like he may have been sick.

 

[starlingsbaby]

Well with Bernard gone I tried to steer away from the thread as it is still quite sad for me.
But this week, I noticed I seem to be a magnet for special needs birds.
One of my 5 week olds has a cross beak. She was one of the two day olds I bought from the feed store to keep Bernard company!!! I have no idea what breed she is, as they weren't actually sure either lol. Here are some pictures of her little beak




i have a chick that just hatched out, i had a spike in temp and was the only one that hatched but he/she is acting jus like your silky. it chirps and stuff but it is like it has no control over its head and one of its legs. good luck with your babies.


I was also wondering if anyone has any neurologically special birds? I moved my 5 week old birds to the outside brooder a month ago and haven't paid them much attention out there with somuch going on around here. I had some older birds die in the same coop so cleaned it all out really good and turned it into my new grow ou coop - where the now 9 wk olds will stay until they start laying or crowing - and I noticed that one of the silkies was being weird. Here is a video of her. I have no idea what's up with her. She CAN lift her head up all the way and even walk around and bobble like a normal chicken. I've been watching her for a few hours now and I've only seen it once when she was afraid. She mostly does circles, backs up a little, and sleeps. She rarely opens her left eye, but it does open all the way.
Any ideas what's wrong with her? Or what I can do?


I posted in the emergencies diseases and illnesses page but no one is responding. When I pick her up she freaks out (probably from not being handled much) and she curls and thrashes her head around like she doesn't have any control. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[kukupecpec]

My silkie is actually doing great!!! I just separated her for a day and hand fed and watered her and now she's fine. After a second da of being just fine I put her back in with her sister and the serama and they all love eachother! Buffy (the sick one) is on the bottom of the pecking order but I think that's because she's so muh smaller than everyone else. They don't bully her though, Elena just pecks her once in a while.

 

[starlingsbaby]

@ kukupecpec, I am so glad that your baby got alright. I am not sure what is wrong with mine. it just hatched 4 days ago and it took it 3 days to get enough strengh to try to hold his head up but i will see what it does oveer the ext week or so.

 

[suzyQlou]

I'm wondering how important grit is to our cross-beaked chicks. My girl is eating mostly mash, so I'm not sure she'd need it too much. On the other hand, I don't think she can pick up the grit on her own.

 

[chooks4life]

Grit is important because it is the 'teeth' of the bird; it grinds the food up in their stomach during its contractions, which is why they have such muscular stomachs... Sorry if you already knew that. As for tube-fed cross-beaks, I'd guess that if the food's completely pureed grit won't be needed, but with animals who are naturally consumers of solid foods that are put on perpetually liquid diets, the digestive system can suffer atrophy as a result of not getting its usual exercise, and this eventually tends to lead to death.

If I had to venture an inexperienced guess, I would think that if the chook is fed not-quite liquid feed with some small grits mixed in, would be better than outright liquid feed nonstop. Once a chook's been on a liquid diet for most or all of its life however, introducing a semi-solid feed could be fatal.

 

[starlingsbaby]

i strated as thread about me setting eggs and if anyone else sis for april if yall could spread the word.

 

[starlingsbaby]

I STARTED IT UNDER THE HATCH A LONGS FORUM

 

[kukupecpec]

@ kukupecpec, I am so glad that your baby got alright. I am not sure what is wrong with mine. it just hatched 4 days ago and it took it 3 days to get enough strengh to try to hold his head up but i will see what it does oveer the ext week or so.

Thanks! She's doing really well. Her new little serama family is really taking good care of her. My 5 wk old cross beak is outside with the other 3 her age and she seems to be eating and drinking on her own just fine. We will see what the future brings!
I wish I could help you with your chick!!! Buffy just kind of got better on her own =/