Should this chick be culled?

[bswilson]

We have 3 EE chicks that are about 2 weeks old now. They all seem to be happy and healthy, but we've noticed that one has a crooked lower jaw that won't line up with her upper jaw. I guess this is a skull deformity and I don't have high hopes for this chick, but as long as she's still eating and hopping around I'm unsure if she's in any danger.
She does eat, but she's growing more slowly than the other two.

 

[JakeBremer]

Do not cull her. I have an Americana about 5 weeks old and 1 of them has a crossed beak and she is fine. let her live.

 

[mi chicken]

if its eating i would wait and see

 

[angel8035]

Let her live as long as she can. Here is a link to some stories about crossbeak chickies:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-for-special-needs-chickens-and-their-keepers

 

[OurLittlebitRanch]

All of our years of raising pullets we never had that problem until we got our last batch of Rhode Island Reds. We had one that had that exact same problem. She is about 4 months old now and doing just fine. Just make sure that she is eating and drinking.

 

[prizma]

I have a white sultan chick that has the same issue, I noticed it when she was a week old. Like everyone else said, as long as she is eating and drinking, she should be fine. I've read that as they get older, it may help to feed her out of a deep dish since it's easier for them to scoop up their food that way since they can't peck like other chickens. But I just plan to give mine lots of extra special care and attention and hopefully everything will be alright!

 

[jawilson]

Will she require to be fed with a feeding tube or will she eat pellets with the rest of the chickens? I don't want to sound mean, but force feeding a chicken each day and night through a tube doesn't sound ideal or possible. Our goal is to raise happy and healthy chickens. Does anyone have a chicken like this that leads a 100% normal life without intervention?

 

[Panth]

If you don't mind a bit extra work, it is possible to get a crossbeak to eat on its own without tube feeding. I mix a special food for mine using a mix of cottage cheese, yogurt, raw egg and chick starter. This extra gooey mush is much much easier for them to pick up on their own and gives them some extra protein and vitamins to help boost their weight. I wouldn't cull unless you notice that she is not doing at all healthwise and is losing weight. I have a crossbeak (there is a pic of him on the crossbeak forum) and he is almost 7 weeks and doing very well, and his beak is much worse than yours.

 

[cary 1973]

i would say if she does take the extra work that you cant provid for what ever reason i would put add on craigs list there are lots of people out there that love special needs animals and like to take care of them. i had a older lady (she recently passed) that any animal with a prob she felt needed by taking care of them and brought her quite a bit of joy. or if you plan on eating your birds get it to a good size then put on dinner table.

with that being said i agree with others just give soft food easy to scoop up and watch to make sure not suffering

 

[chickenzoo]

I have some cross beaked chickens and they do fine as long as I keep the feeder bowl full so they can stick their face in there. As chicks you can mix some crumble with warm water to a mash that is easier to pick up.... As long as they have heart, I let them do as they want. Sometimes you get some that just give up...