My silkie has scissor beak!!

[Ducklover17191]

Hi I have a silkie with a significantly bad scissor beak. He is much smaller than the others but he seems to be healthy. He is about 5 weeks old. I will include a picture. Can anyone tell me if he will survive or live a normal life? I haven’t seen many as bad as this. And I may also need some advice on how to care for him

 

[nchls school]

At five weeks of age he/she can eat and drink so the chick is likely to live as long as it normal siblings. Mash works well. Foods of other types need to be in small pieces as a scissor beaks is unable to nip/tear/break food apart. You will need to periodically trim the beak; an easy process to learn-no harder than clipping your finger nails.

 

[Ducklover17191]

Thanks for the advice

 

[rosemarythyme]

Wet feed in a deep dish will be easiest for him to eat. Some birds with very severe crossbeak do just fine, so only time will tell.

If it gets to the point where he can no longer adequately feed, then you need to decide if you're willing and able to tube feed him the rest of his life, and if not, it'd be kindest to cull him at that point rather than let him slowly starve.

 

[Ducklover17191]

Ok thanks for the advice