To cull or not to cull, tough question

[PrinceFarm]

This is a phoenix chick about 7 weeks old with a beak problem. I bought this as an ornimental bird and didnt plan on breeding them so the problem never seemed like a big deal but now I think he is having a problem eating. What do you people think. on the on hand I do need room because my chickens will be a bit crowded once they get grown and I dont want the poor thing to starve. On the other hand, perhaps he is eating ok enouph to survive. He is very submisive to all the other chickens and knows his place in the pecking order. I know that knowone wants to tell me to kill my chicken so just tell me what you would do.

 

[gpamela3499]

Here is my story..


https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=145654


There were some that have good luck. Is the top beak the problem or the bottom?

 

[MSHEN]

I had to cull one of my 4 week old EE's today... She had a twisted beak and at first I was just going to let see how well she did with it as I was going to use her for laying only, but as she grew, i noticed she could not compete with the others for food as well and was becoming malnourished. It was pitiful. I was faced with the task of ending her poor quality of life, and that is just what I did today. She was a very sweet tempered little thing and my heart went out to her, but it was not in her best interest to allow her to suffer. I guess these sort of decisions are part of our job as caretakers of our flocks, not pleasant always, but merciful, at least. Hope this helps...

 

[Cetawin]

It looks like the top beak is overbiting the bottom? The picture is kind of hard to tell. You can trim the top beak back some. Remember that some big farms de-beak chickens and the top beak is taken way back. Do a search for cross beak and so forth here there are a lot of informative posts here. I would not say cull unless you have to or if you were looking at breeding.

Can you get a better picture without it being so fuzzy?

 

[PrinceFarm]

The bottom is moved to the side. the top seems like it is longer than normal, and curved down
It has gotten much more exteme in the last few days

 

[PrinceFarm]

Im sure he will be reborn as a heathy big chicken. Ya know, I got into this chicken thing cause I wanted to be more self seficient so I planted a garden, bought some rabbits, and chickens. I even put solar panels on my roof. I planned this whole thing out like a professional and have had great success so far. I plan on eating the chickens, the eggs, and the rabbits. What I am getting at is this...... I have rabbits that I know I will eat so I dont name them. I have chickens that have a set date that they will be harvested, and I have accepted that but somehow in my head I have made the phoenix a pet. Sorry I dont have any more pics, I can take some tomorrow.

 

[PrinceFarm]

I know, this photo is not much better but you might be able to see how the top beak curves down.

 

[SloCrevs]

It looks like the beak just needs to be trimmed. Some better pics might help.

 

[New adventure]

I'm going thru the same thing with a 4 week old EE. I trimmed her beak once and it bled horribly. Please be careful if you do this. I used cornstarch to stop the bleeding and kept her separated until it stopped.
It does seem to be getting worse, but she is eating wet food well and is happy. Every day I wonder if I'm doing the right thing, I hope I'll know if its time to cull her.

 

[Bantam Bodon]

You can use a hot knife too, after you trim the beak, if its far back it will bleed, pressing a hot knife to it will stop the bleeding, im not sure how the chicken will feel about it though. You can trim the beak so it wont bleed though, maybe try that?