New chicken owner, two cross beaked babies!

[chickee]

Quote:
Would you mind telling me what lines your BLRW chick came from? I have two BLRW's with crossed beaks from the same shipped eggs hatch with crossed beaks and I'm trying to find out if it is genetic. The breeder, in Southern California tells me she hasn't seen this before in her birds

 

[chickerdoodle]

Quote:
Would you mind telling me what lines your BLRW chick came from? I have two BLRW's with crossed beaks from the same shipped eggs hatch with crossed beaks and I'm trying to find out if it is genetic. The breeder, in Southern California tells me she hasn't seen this before in her birds

Don't know as she came from the Urban Farm Store. I will try to find out but I believe she came from a hatchery.

 

[chickee]

Thank-you for responding to my question

Mine came from a private breeder and I suspect she has inbred them to keep the pure Lowell Barber lines and that is where the problem comes from!

Both chicks with the crossed beaks at 13 weeks are doing fine. I would call what they have parrot beak~ here is a picture to show what I mean. She can even pick up a treat of oats off of the ground, unfortunately the rooster chick can't.

 

[chickerdoodle]

What a lovely pullet!

Hyacinth's is curling a now that she is 10 weeks old. You can see some space between her upper and lower beak. The upper part curls over the bottom one. She hasn't had any trouble eating though and is growing as well as her flock-mates.

 

[chickee]

Your pullet is really pretty! and her beak doesn't look as severe as my poor girl. Mine is also eating well and the same size as her egg mates. I think when they hatch with the deformity compared to it developing later as they grow it is a lot more differcult for them to thrive sadly

Good luck with yours

 

[chickerdoodle]

Quote:
Hyacinth's is actually worse than it looks from a side view as it crosses over the front, although it is not a severe as your pullet's. She does have an issue trying to grab individual things like a fresh kernel of corn if she doesn't get it just right. Fortunately she is very persistent!

I should try to get a new front view too and you'd know what I mean.

 

[chickee]

Quote:
Hyacinth's is actually worse than it looks from a side view as it crosses over the front, although it is not a severe as your pullet's. She does have an issue trying to grab individual things like a fresh kernel of corn if she doesn't get it just right. Fortunately she is very persistent!

I should try to get a new front view too and you'd know what I mean.

Yes, frontal pictures do show it at its worst!

Bye the way, I love your Avatar picture! So cute! I have two Bengal cats and no way would they play dress up

Here is a picture of the rooster chick with the crossed beak~ he is so gentle and sweet!

 

[dnirvin53]

I have one too that looks just like yours! Ske hatched just befor Thanksgiving! She is now an inside chicken. I feed her whatever I can find that she will eat including oatmeal mixed with whey protein powder and yogurt applesauce and sometimes baby veggies or cereal. I also feed her creamed corn mixed with crumbled cornbread. Like yours she gets real messy eating and eats all the time. She is slowly gaining weight, but is not very big. I give her nutidrench or lafabers bird vitamins in her food. So far she seems happy and runs around the house, plays with the puppy and tries to type on my computer. Good luck with your sweetie.

 

[CMV]

I have one too that looks just like yours! Ske hatched just befor Thanksgiving! She is now an inside chicken. I feed her whatever I can find that she will eat including oatmeal mixed with whey protein powder and yogurt applesauce and sometimes baby veggies or cereal. I also feed her creamed corn mixed with crumbled cornbread. Like yours she gets real messy eating and eats all the time. She is slowly gaining weight, but is not very big. I give her nutidrench or lafabers bird vitamins in her food. So far she seems happy and runs around the house, plays with the puppy and tries to type on my computer. Good luck with your sweetie.

This is a very old post. If you want some new info head on over to Breeds, Genetics and Showing section of the forum and look for a post started by NimbyChickens, who is currently dealing with some severe crossbeaks. Nimby is tube feeding them to keep the birds alive because that is the only way to manage the really severe cases.

Good luck.

 

[newchknlover]

I have some updates since I originally started this thread a long time ago.... I am happy to say that I have gotten to enjoy two severly cross-beaked ROOSTERS for what like 2 years now? They have done so well, maybe the fact that they are roosters has made them more resilient or something. I will post recent pictures soon. Their beaks are WAY crooked now, over a 90 degree angle to the side. But I trim the upper beak so that it doesn't get too severe but I leave it with a small curve. I have noticed that when it is either too short or too long it gets in the way of their smoothie .

I have noticed a few of their favorite things to mix with chick starter and water: applesauce, bananas, watermelon, gerber baby oatmeal flakes (especially banana flavored), blended fresh spinach, canned corn with NO SALT ADDED, and yogurt. I try to stay away from things that have too much salt added and a big thing to look out for would be added vitamin c from applesauce etc. because it is citric acid and I am not sure if that is ok considering I have heard to not give them citrus. I have never tube fed my little dudes but that would probably be a good option. I tend to sometimes go out and add water to their food and mix it up because on warm days it sometimes evaporates the liquid out. BTW if you can do it, add bugs to their food. There are plenty of pincherbugs in my coop area.