Scissor beak....fix?

[kryptoniteqhs]

I bought this chick from someone here on BYC and later noticed its beak was slightly crooked, then last night I picked it up and its REALLY crooked. I know I cant breed it, I didnt intend to. I also know that most of you will tell me to cull it. If it was suffering I would. Right now it is super happy and eats fine. It had a full crop last night when I noticed the beak. It is a bit smaller than the others as well. If the baby gets worse I will cull it, but for now I just want to know if theres anything I can do to fix it. Ive heard rubber bands help, but I think it might be too crooked to do that with out hurting it. Ill post pictures in a little while.

 

[nzpouter]

unfortunately, no, some scissor beak condition will get worse overtime, cull it.

 

[silkiechicken]

It's likly a skull plate growth issue, so really not much you can do about it.

 

[Katy]

I haven't had many, but when I did they only got worse over time. Now I cull as soon as I see it. It's much easier to do when they're very young than when they're older and I'm attached to them.

 

[Chickenaddict]

I have a serama pullet like that and i just can't bring myself to cull her. SHe started out with a nromal beak and by the time she was 3 months old i noticed it getting worse. Its heart breaking because she is by far the prettiest and smallest serama pullet i have and so far eats like a normal chicken. Maybe you can take a file and try evening it out that way? thats what i was thinking about doing for mine.

 

[silkiechicken]

You can try to file it down, but if it is a big cross over, there is only so much you can do because the bones of the face and beak will be facing the wrong way.

 

[SummerwindNC]

I’ll start off by saying I can’t cull anything unless I find it to be in serious pain. I had to do it once, I overdosed a hen on human pain killers…I’m a wimp. That’s just me; I give kudos to those that can though…as I wish I had your courage. I have a 5 week old silkie Roo (he’s a sweetie!) who is developing scissor beak. I’ve been giving him light oil massages several times a day holding him with one hand so that his beak is closed. Surprisingly it will actually stay corrected for several minutes after manipulation (not stuck or anything). Having what my oral surgeon called (the loosest mandible he’s ever seen before) I’m not convinced it’s a cranial problem but more of a muscle pulling mandible one. So I’m driving 40 miles tomorrow to pick up some Penetran to massage him with. Maybe it will help. Right now I have an old plastic measuring cup hooked up to his brooder so that he can scoop out his food. Other than that he’s a really happy, healthily little boy. I plan on giving him a chance....if it's bad I'll take him to the vet.

KAT

 

[scarter]

Our gal is one year old now. We struggled with this a little but she has learned to eat and is laying. We feed her more treats than the others. Ours is pretty severe so I'm pretty surprised she lasted the winter but she did fine.

 

[kryptoniteqhs]

Thanks for the info....I was hoping there was some way to make it normal or closer to normal, so its more so like any other chicken.....and do it has a better quality of life, not saying its quality of life is bad right now by anymeans, but if i could make it happier id love to!

 

[Jamie821]

I have two with scissor beak. I just cant cull unless there is no other choice. I have a handicap coop and all less then perfect are in there. What I do is use one of the battey operated nail file the ones with the round stone on them, I use the real fine one and file away the top beak over hang. The beak does grow back like a finger nail so it is something you have to do when it needs it. You can shape the beak but dont get carried away. You cant make them perfect but you can make it where they can eat.