Suggestions on what to do about my poor cross-beak Americauna.

[ChickenEllis]

I have a 4 and a half month Americauna hen with a pretty severe cross beak affliction. So far she has been able to eat and drink without too much trouble. She will plant her entire face into the feed and use her tongue to get the pellets. She is healthy otherwise and is able to maintain her weight.

We are looking into some minor beak trimming options. We do not want to take her to a vet so hopefully we can care for her ourselves.

Any suggestions?

Henny Penny:

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

oh my goodness! I don't have advice but want to ask was it always that bad? I have an ameraucana like that, well nowhere near as bad . . . so i'm wondering is that what is coming down the road for us too?

 

[ChickenEllis]

The bottom beak seems to stay the same but the top beak is very curved and is slowly growing.

We took her to our local feed store today and the 3 women who work there (all have extensive chicken experience) thought it wasn't too bad and they were impressed by her size and weight.

 

[LynneP]

I haven't trimmed a hen so I hope you get some good advice, and meanwhile search at the top of the page under 'trim beaks' for ongoing advice.

Another thing that will help is to provide a cinder block, brick or an abrasive rock like granite in the coop and run so she can rub her own beak and toenails down.

The deep food dish will always be important for her and if you can maintain her weight she should be fine. No breeding though...rooster??????

 

[Jennyhaschicks]

I have the same breed who actually looks a lot like yours..
I have to feed her in a deep bowl so she can get food into her mouth. I also have to give her water in a deep bowl as well. I have to feed her more often than the others because she eats slower and sometimes the other birds take food away from her.
Other then that she is not thin and seems healthy.

 

[ChickenEllis]

Thanks for the replies. So far she has done ok with our smallish hanging feeder but i am going to build a couple more pvc feeders (saw some great designs in the forum) with a larger, deeper dispenser.

We have a flock of ten hens and don't plan on breeding them. The other hens don't treat her too badly and in fact she seems to be number 8 or 9 in the current pecking order.

We are going to let a woman at the feed store show us how to trim her beak today. I will post how that goes.