help baby americana hen scissor beak

[puppy767]

thankyou for saying that because thats what i told my father and for somebody else to say it helps . do you think that even if i start nursing her now she still wont survive.

 

[mypicklebird]

I can't answer that, I can't see how bad the scissor bite is, and can't tell if she can eat anything- unless you do the food trials. I can't tell if her lower beak is functional at all unless the upper beak is trimmed and the lower can be moved back into normal position. All I can tell you is generalities- most starve to death. The severe ones that survive to adulthood do so only because of devoted owners. Mild ones do ok on their own, medium ones have a lifelong struggle to get enough to eat to survive.



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[ChooksChick]

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He only lost a tiny portion of the tongue- the part that couldn't stay wet at all even with me wetting it several times daily.

If the scissoring is more severe than Professor's you'll certainly have a lot of work ahead of you. I wouldn't do it- I'd have her put to sleep, honestly.

It's a horrible reality, but it's better for the bird, too- it will be in a better place, where it won't have this struggle.

 

[Mrs.Puff]

I have a cross-beak also, and I should have culled it early on. I got into feeding the little thing, and now I don't want to cull it. And yes, the hand feeding of paste is a MESS and takes a lot of time. Plus, I end up with a hen that chases me all over the place wanting food. It lands on my shoulder, sits at the front door, is constantly getting underfoot etc. I thought maybe I could feed it till it got big enough to send to "freezer camp" but I don't think this is going to happen. I recommend culling the chick you have now. It's sad, but you gotta do it.

 

[tackyrama]

It may be hard to do but I sincerely recommend culling. I just lost a little golden laced polish we called little girl. She had a cross beak and also had trouble eating. She would try 5 or 6 times to get just one morsel of food. We tried to baby her but she finally gave up just a couple of night ago. My head tells me to cull in such cases. Unfortunately I listened to my heart this time. It was cruel to her in the long run AND heart breaking to us in the end. Never again!

 

[SOchick]

New, to chickens, when I got mine, I got offered a cross beak free when I bought one of my other chickens. I got her at about 8 weeks, but she was only a bit smaller that the other, who was the same age. She is now about 19-20 weeks, and is still just a tiny bit smaller, but seems to be ok. Her beak isn't too bad, she can eat on her own, and has learned to turn her head when pecking to get more food. She does seem to be able to eat crumbles a little bit better than pellets, but what seems to help her the most is eating from a deep dish. I have been told that trimming her beak could help her more, but I haven't tried that yet because she seems to be doing fine with it like it is, but my dad came over today and we agreed to do it next time he comes, to see if it helps more, because I am hoping she will start laying soon.

That being said, I don't know how bad your chick is, but you could try trimming her beak and giving her a deep dish to eat from. Otherwise, you have gotten really good advice from others. Good luck!

 

[ChooksChick]

When trimming, I have been told to use a Dremmel with a NO-HEAT stone to file it down and for the end of a beak that has gotten very long, like the bottom of Professor's in the pic before his trim, you can use a brand-new, very sharp dog nail trimmer. It's hard to get them to hold still, but rolling them up in a towel helps- my avian vet does it for $15.

I would only trim the bottom beak, as it was getting in the way of him getting his head deep in the bowl, but it's different for one with a crossed upper beak.

 

[Kayanne]

I too am a softy for my Helen. She is 12 weeks old from my first set of broody hen hatchlings. She is a Lavender Ameraucana. At about 5 weeks I noticed that her beak was sticking out. She was smaller than her siblings. I started feeding her in the house a mush of starter feed and yogurt. She loves it and fills her crop but I worry about her future. I also noticed that the tip of her tongue is hard and dry. I put Vaseline on it tonight. I just don't know what to do. We all love her so. She has been isolated from her siblings the past couple weeks due to an injury. I wouldn't know how to cull her if I even could.....