underdeveloped lower beak in gonzo chick

[mac_chooks]

I thought the top beak had overgrown but it's that the lower beak isn't growing. She can eat, a little, though she makes a mess.

She is scrawny compared to the other chicks. Skin and bones.

I hate the idea of euthanizing her when she clearly *wants* to live -- she's trying to eat, she's grooming, she's walking around and all that.

The chick isn't as active as the other four in the brooder but she does ok.

This is week three so the temps are down to 80-85 and she looks cold.

Anyone have a chicken with these problems that came through ok?

 

[enola]

If she is not eating well, then her body cannot regulate her body temperature. She probably IS cold.

 

[~*Sweet Cheeks*~]

I had a little RIR that had a normal beak but didn't grow like all the other chicks. She slept a lot right under the red heat lamp for 3-4 wks. I thought she wasn't going to make it but then she ate more, slept less and out grew the other RIR. Today, I can't tell the two apart anymore. She had some white feathers come in but now those are gone.

Good luck with your little one. Maybe have a deep bowl of food for her.

Good luck with your little one.

 

[mac_chooks]

I got her to drink from the nipple waterer!

She can sort of eat, so hopefully if she gets enough water she'll take more mash from me later today.

(I have one of those outrageously priced Eglu cubes and they come with a waterer that has three metal, er, pins the chickens peck and the water above them flows out. I LOVE the design though!)

Gonzo had to dip her beak so far into the water disk she would immediately sneeze because water got up her nares. Chickens are really not the cleverest of creatures.

Anyway, we're weighing her every night and she is up from last Saturday but not by much.