Trouble providing water with a Scissor beak.

egorretorted

In the Brooder
Jun 2, 2020
3
4
26
Albuquerque New Mexico
I have 4 pullets, and one of the silkies has a Scissor beak. I had a traditional waterer for them as chicks, and have tried to transition everyone over to a horizonal nipple watering system, but the scissor beak doesn't seem to be able to drink from it, and rushes to the old waterer the moment I put it down and drinks for quite a while. Any suggestions on a watering system that stays clean, besides the horizonal nipples? I saw these cups online and they seem promising, but these are my first chickens, so I have no experience with this issue.
Screenshot_20200722-142525_Chrome.jpg
 
The only thing I really know about scissor beak is that they can't peck at things to pick it up, they can only scoop. I imagine a long and deep trench would be easiest for the chick. If you're vigilant about changing out the water every day and bleaching once a week, I think there shouldn't be a problem if you leave an open water source for just her.
 
How bad is her crossbeak? Just wondering if this can be resolved with additional "training" or if it's all physical...

My current crossbeak isn't too severe but she still struggled to learn how to use horizontal nipples (she used vertical ones before just fine). She's able to drink from it now but it took weeks of showing her for her to finally figure out how to nail the toggle and drink - she was getting by on stealing water when other birds were toggling it.
 
How bad is her crossbeak? Just wondering if this can be resolved with additional "training" or if it's all physical...

My current crossbeak isn't too severe but she still struggled to learn how to use horizontal nipples (she used vertical ones before just fine). She's able to drink from it now but it took weeks of showing her for her to finally figure out how to nail the toggle and drink - she was getting by on stealing water when other birds were toggling it.
20200724_152946.jpg
here it's a very bad photo of her. It seems pretty severe to me, I pick her up and the croup is full so while it takes longer to eat, she does get food. Watering is the same as yours, she used the drops from the other birds.
 
You could try the drinking cups, or even vertical nipples, to see if either is easier for her to use. That is a pretty noticeable crossbeak though so she really might benefit from having water in a bowl, even though that kind of negates the benefits of using nipples, as all the other birds will want to use that bowl too.
 

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