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

[chooks4life]

Sorry for your loss. There's nothing much that can be said, apart from what you've already said: at least now you know he's not suffering.

@miguel: There might be a thread in the main forum about eye injuries where you'd get some experienced opinions and advice. I have had only one chook with an eye problem and it was a deep gash to the eyelid. The eye was fine.

 

[Stueys Mom]

RIP lil Angel so sorry for your loss Starlingsbaby

 

[Missi]

Here is my cross-beaked chook. He/she (I'm thinking HE because his comb is larger than the salmon pullets his age) is a 3 month-old blue faverolles (standard, not bantam). Can anyone tell me if this beak will get much worse with age? He is keeping weight on because I feed my birds gamebird crumbles but he can not enjoy their treats of greens, though he tries!

 

[ramirezframing]

probably will get worse, Peepers seemed to stop moving after he was a year old. Peepers loved his treats, I would have to stick the treat in his mouth. I did this while holding him. It helped because when it was beak trimming time he knew that he would get a treat afterwards. His favorite was watermelon. Good luck

 

[appps]

Starling sorry your little guy didn't make it. They so quickly become part of the family don't they.

I'm very glad I found this thread. I actually thought my girl was eating and doing fine though she does have her head in the feed and water much more than the others but after reading this and other threads decided to give her some chick starter yesterday i had left over with warm water to make it clump together more.

She has eaten and eaten and eaten. This morning I was sitting on the deck outside her pen and she tried to jump the fence to get to me. (This is a chicken with barely any human contact till we got them a couple of weeks ago)

I mixed her up another batch and they all loved it but the other three have wandered off now to snooze off full tummy's and she is still at the bowl eating like there is no tomorrow.

She is smaller than the other three and we just thought she must have been a week or two younger as the guy we got them from did say the ages varied but now I'm starting to wonder if in fact part of her size is due to not enough food.

So....she is 12-14 weeks old and they have pullet grower and access to grass all day. I'm now supplementing that with the wet chick starter. Twice a day?? (Thought due to the higher protien it might be a good get her back up to condition food, that plus I have a whole bag if the darn stuff and no chicks)

Is there anything else I should add to help in case she hadn't been eating properly? It's strange because her beak isn't really that bad, I mean I didn't even notice for a couple of weeks.

 

[robinwiththechickens]

I lost my little Lindsay yesterday. Not to malnutrition or anything cross-beak related. Our big goofy dog tried to play with her and accidentally broke her neck. We are giving the dog back to the lady we got her from six months ago, because I never want to go through this again. In the two years we’ve had chickens, Lindsay is the first one we’ve lost. I never knew I’d get so attached to these feathery little friends. I cried my eyes out over her…maybe I’m not cut out for “farm” life. Now who's going to keep Britney company while she eats her mash? I feel awful that I didn't protect her better.

 

[Missi]

I have been told my blue fav's cross beak is so bad that he will eventually starve to death because he won't be able to feed himself & the best thing to do is to put him down. Does anyone else agree?

 

[Missi]

I just put Blue down. I spent a lot of time observing him today. He lost interest in pecking at the feeder because he was unable to grab any feed crumbles. He gobbled down every morsel I hand-fed him then went back to try the feeder again but quickly gave up each time. It was so depressing to see him so broken. I didn't want to hand-feed him for the rest of his life because the thought of him only able to eat when I fed him & it dawned on me that he would ONLY be able to eat with me putting food in his mouth, the rest of the day he was to stand there hungry, watching his flock mates feed themselves at will, until I would have been able to get home to feed him. In my heart, I knew this was not humane & not fair to him. It was the first time I had to put a pet down. A sweet, innocent life. Forage free in the meadows of Heaven, little boy. I'm so sorry.

 

[kukupecpec]

I just put Blue down. I spent a lot of time observing him today. He lost interest in pecking at the feeder because he was unable to grab any feed crumbles. He gobbled down every morsel I hand-fed him then went back to try the feeder again but quickly gave up each time. It was so depressing to see him so broken. I didn't want to hand-feed him for the rest of his life because the thought of him only able to eat when I fed him & it dawned on me that he would ONLY be able to eat with me putting food in his mouth, the rest of the day he was to stand there hungry, watching his flock mates feed themselves at will, until I would have been able to get home to feed him. In my heart, I knew this was not humane & not fair to him. It was the first time I had to put a pet down. A sweet, innocent life. Forage free in the meadows of Heaven, little boy. I'm so sorry.

Putting down a pet is an extremely difficult decision. You knew him better than anyone else, and certainly better than anyone here. Only you could know his true quality of life, and that's a lot of responsibility. I was in the same situation a few months ago with my dog. Where many people would have moved to treatment and management of his disease and other health problems, we knew him, and knew it was a question of quality of life. He wouldn't have been the dog I grew up with had we kept him here with his permanent treatment plan and all around change to his entire lifestyle. I know many of us here tube feed our cross beaks, but what works for our chickens is not for everyone. I know you made the right decision! Blue was your pet and he trusted you, and you took care of him every way possible to give him a full and happy life

 

[coloradogal]

Well i think this is Bernards last night. He's barely skin and bones, can't hardly stand up, and is coughing back up any food and water I try to give him.

And as I'm writing this, I just watched him go limp and he's gone.

I still miss my Breakers. I'm so sorry for your loss.