How much should I be trying to get this crossbeak to eat daily? And can I train her to eat sideways?

[cmom]

So she feeds herself okay? Did she always?

She was in with some other birds but I took her out because I had pellets in their feeders. She now has her own coop and pen and her crumbles. Once in awhile I'll put some worms in her crumbles or a tiny bit of scratch and some chick grit. Once in awhile if I have a needy bird the bird will go in with Gladys. She is really a good therapy bird. She seems to show whoever is in with her the ropes.

 

[cmom]

I'm glad you were able to help your bird. Unfortunately, here none of the vets work with poultry.

 

[WVduckchick]

Wow! Thanks so much everybody!

I'd never visited this particular veterinary clinic before, but I was so pleasantly surprised! The vet was a fellow backyard chicken owner/lover, and he listened very carefully to all the nuances. We found that she also has a problem with her heart, so chances are that she has some other issues here or there.

You were so right: I can now intubate a chicken! The vet very patiently showed me how to do that, and I came straight home with Little Miss Crossbeak and did it solo--nobody even holding her for me! How refreshing to get that crop full in 1 minute rather than 30 minutes!! This may be doable!

Also, the vet got out a dremel and used the grinding bit and actually ground down that lower beak for me. Her tongue did touch it a bit, which may have heated her up, but it didn't seem to hurt her. She was just a little freaked out by the whole ordeal. I don't blame her! But I now have some great guidance on how to do that, as well!

Finally, he gave me some guidance on feeding amounts and frequencies:

1. At each feeding, we have to be guided by the size of the crop. We want to fill 'er up, but not stretch 'er out. No bras here. Right now, she can have 10-15 ml/feeding.
2. The number of feedings is guided by the amount she should be eating for her age. She has a lot of catching up to do! I'll be tube feeding 3-4 times a day until she gains some weight. Hopefully by then her crop will be able to handle closer to 20 ml at a time, and eventually we should be able to get away with 2-3 feedings per day.

Doable! I may not be able to do a third feeding every day, but two I definitely can do, especially now that I know how to intubate. I'm so glad he showed me how to do that. I've heard horror stories about human intubations, but chickens' anatomy is different enough that I no longer feel apprehensive about it. She doesn't like the tube going down, but she's not in pain.

So: we have a plan for how much and how often to feed her. I now know how to dremel her bottom beak down, too, and I'll probably have to keep that up weekly. But it's nowhere near as onerous a task as I once thought.

I'll keep everyone posted here on how things go. Thank you to EVERYONE!!

Excellent news! That’s one lucky little bird to have you as it’s keeper.
And very impressive that you have a vet that also keeps chickens. Score!!

 

[vivaciouswoman]

Excellent news! That’s one lucky little bird to have you as it’s keeper.
And very impressive that you have a vet that also keeps chickens. Score!!

It's totally not the vet I would have used--there's a vet who works with birds at my dogs' veterinary hospital, so I would have gone there, but she's on vacation for 2 weeks. So they referred me to this other clinic, and yes, it was a very good thing!

For anyone living in the lower south central Michigan (yes, all those adjectives are needed for a 2-peninsula state!), Jackson area is serviced by Dr. Chris Howe at Crossroads Animal Hospital. He was amazing at understanding that I'm not your average client, and I needed to be taught to fish, not given fish, in the words of the old parable. I REALLY appreciated that level of understanding and confidence in a brand new client he had never met before. He also gave me his email address in case I need help and he's not in the office or it's after hours. That's amazing! All that education in a 30-45 minute office visit plus the supplies to tube feed cost me less than $100! That's a decent price for a good education!

Do we have a spot on this site to share great resources? I'd like to make sure that others in this area are alerted to how wonderful he is!

 

[vivaciouswoman]

I'm glad you were able to help your bird. Unfortunately, here none of the vets work with poultry.

I thought we were pretty limited here, but when I started calling around, I found 2 in my nearest town. I would hope there are more and more in the pipeline as backyard chicken ownership expands! Give my daughter (pictured in my avatar from about 3 years ago) about 20 years... We call her our little Chicken Whisperer.

 

[anna-newhampshire]

I remember a little video with a cross beak quail:

 

[FarmerGirl101]

Check out this artilce that is all about cross beaks and how to care for them. I know that you went to the vet but this can also help too. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...kens-including-tube-feeding-techniques.64321/

 

[vivaciouswoman]

Check out this artilce that is all about cross beaks and how to care for them. I know that you went to the vet but this can also help too. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...kens-including-tube-feeding-techniques.64321/

Yes, this is one of the first things I read when the issue became apparent! Thanks!

 

[vivaciouswoman]

I remember a little video with a cross beak quail:

How lovely! I hadn't seen this!

 

[vivaciouswoman]

WANTED: food and water by age/weight chart. I still don't have specific guidelines. I see a lot of rough calculations (i.e., how much should be eaten weeks 2-6) for the purposes of calculating feed costs, but nothing more specific than that.