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

[Rebeccaraye]

Thanks KelsiNS,

My husband decided we are keeping her regardless. He says she needs us and is happy with her flock-mates.

So we will make the best of it. I'm taking advantage of the situation and I'm going to bring her inside and feed her and play with her.

Pictures soon.

RebeccaRaye

 

[KelsiNS]

Chewi has now learned to use her hooked beak to climb the fence. She doesnt have a handicap-she has a superpower!

 

[AlpineButterfly]

I took Violet, my 20 week old crossbeak, in to the vet to have her beak trimmed, so I could get a better idea of how much to trim. He trimmed the bottom beak back as far as he could (to the point it bled a little), and trimmed the top beak a little less (before it bled). I need to be better about filing every week, so the quick recedes.

Here are a few "before" pictures for comparison:


Here are a few pictures after he trimmed her beak:


She is doing alright with the rest of her flockmates; not considerably smaller, but low on the pecking order. Still growing. And she seems happy enough, and knows to come out to get treats from me individually if she can.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/g/a/6511146/violets-crossbeak-progression/

 

[Katt66]

Wow, just found this thread. And I am definitely going to have to take a browse through when I have time later tonight.

We have a cross beaked EE rooster named Peedles.

He was the largest chick out of the six we hatched back in mid June by far. He also took the longest, nearly a full 24 hrs from when he first cracked his shell until he finally made it out of the egg.

Growing up he's always continued to be the biggest. And has done wonderfully eating the crumbles and chick starter. Over the past few weeks though I've added sunflower seeds and cracked corn to their feed and he doesn't seem to be doing as well with that and the bigger pellets. So I may have to switch back over to crumbles with just a handful of sunflower seeds and cracked corn thrown in the run for everybody to play with.

His crossbeak doesn't seem to be progressing much and is actually quite mild compared to some I've seen. Once every week or two I take the nail grinder for our dogs and gently sand off the edges of his beak a bit. The top just a little to try and make the hook a bit more shallow and the bottom to try and realign it a bit or at least get it back enough that it's not hindering him from picking things up so much.

I will try to get pictures of him up later but he's the white chicken in my avatar on my daughter's shoulder.

 

[MaineiacJay]

We just picked up a silkie with a cross beak. She is the sweetest little chicken, she will just sit on your lap as long as you want her to! we called her Furby, because she looks like a little furby! she was $15 (the normal ones were $50) and my husband and i split her cost, she was just too cute! Im not really sure how old she was, i forgot to ask. she has a good appetite and seems to pick up the crumbles pretty good. we have her in with our 6 week old chicks since they are on a crumble diet and they are a little smaller than she is, so they wont pick on her and she can have her own little flock once they all get used to eachother. her beak isnt awfully bad, but ill probably have to file it down a bit, and well keep an eye on it and make sure it doesnt get so bad that she cant eat.



my husband, who has been calling me the crazy chicken lady and keeps complaining when i get new chickens (ive been good, its been a while since i got another!). but we went to the chicken swap today looking for some bantams and a polish rooster (still looking for that polish roo if anyone has one around sulivan county NH?

) and saw this little girl. we have a soft spot for disabled animals (i took in a stray mother cat from the cold because she was heavily pregnant. one of the kittens she gave birth to had radial hypoplasia. i still have him after 6 years) so we caved and brought her home. turns out my husband REALLY loves her, though he wont flat out admit it lol!

 

[crazyaboutchickens]

I know I'm a bit late on coming to this thread, but how exactly would one feed a teenage crossbeak? She's past being a chick, and can't scoop feed well anymore. And she's not large enough for tube feeding due to not being able to eat enough.

 

[NewToFarming]

Have you tried the wet feed? It is usually easier for them to scoop that up.

 

[BullChick]

Crazy, newtofarming is right. Add water, yogurt or even go fermented feed for the whole flock.
Oatmeal with feed and anything else you want her to eat is how I did it before FF.

 

[crazyaboutchickens]

I have gone with FF for the rest of the flock except him. I'm fermenting a new batch right now since all the rest of it has scratch and I don't think he's ready for the oats in it. I've also tried yogurt but he just doesn't seem to recognize that it's food. He just takes a few licks and walks off, twittering. :/

 

[Rebeccaraye]

AlpineButterfly That's a great improvement! We have a vet that will see chickens and now I know I will be going to her for help.

Thanks for positing this.