When to cull...crossed beak** UPDATE**

[Cetawin]

Glad to hear the crop was full....that is a good sign. You could take one of the calmer babies and put it with Sammy. Watch them for awhile and make sure no pecking is going on. That will give Sammy company.

Good luck with litle one and kep us posted on the progress.

 

[ItsSuzzie]

This was Goldie, an Americana (or EE) Standard size Hen. She was a pet, and also for eggs. She
ate well. She tried to eat it all, most of the time she got what she wanted. Her egg shells were real bumpy, then were not developing. She was feed lay mash (Kruses brand) Oyster shells for her shell and Yogurt for treats. She was a gentle girl and I hated to cull her...but, no eggs and I did not want chicks with cross beak, so....she was culled.
I still miss her.

 

[skand]

Quote:
That is a good idea.. when we had one of our roosters go blind, I thought I'd teach him how to find his food, water, shelter, etc. One of my buffs took to walking under him and clucking to help him find everything. He does wonderful now, only way you'd know he was blind is when he runs into the fence. The buff is still the sweetest thing ever.

 

[TheNewMrsEvans]

A seeing eye chicken...only around here!

 

[Moriah]

Sammy went back out to the coop/run today, only one chicken briefly pecked at the trimmed beak. I spent a good deal of the day out there keeping an eye on them. Fortunately there didn't seem to be any issues (other than the suspected roos fighting with each other, got to a point that DH had to firmly plant his boot in the butt of one to make it let go of one of the white ones). Throughout the day there was varying amounts of food in Sammy's crop and this evening it was really full again.

Sammy is definitely a fighter and doesn't allow others to push him/her away from the food. Just ducks under very casually.

 

[Cetawin]

Moriah that is fantastic. I am so glad to hear Sammy is doing well.

 

[Moriah]

update on original post

 

[lurky]

Quote:
She is beautiful

 

[ChooksChick]

I'm searching for and reading every little snippit about cross-beaked birds, since my little EE has developed a quickly advancing cross beak.

Can you post any pics of your sweet girl after trimming? I'm not sure how to go about that, and think some before and after pics might help.

How is she now? I'm concerned about quality of life, and of course, I'm concerned about the kids becoming very attached to a chook that will, perhaps, have a short, hard, life.

I'm desperate for a miracle cure.

Thanks!

 

[CarolsCritters]

I guess one must decide if their chicks are pets or "food". A crossed beak chick can be a wonderful pet, both of mine are. I can't imagine euthanizing a dog because it's paw is deformed, so why is it done with chickens? It breaks my heart to read that someone now misses their pet because they decided it wasn't worth the effort to keep them around. But that's just me I guess, I'd save them all if I could, and I'd take the time to feed them with a syringe every day for the next 10 years if I had to.

Anyhow, both my crossed beak rooster and crossed beak hen are doing well at 8 months old. "Goofy" rooster is housed with his daddy and brother roosters and keeps up fine on eating, I just make sure he has crumbles available in a deep feeder. "Oatie" the hen is housed with her mom and 2 sisters, and is fed a big bowl of cooked instant oatmeal every morning with milk, honey and crumbles mixed in. Oatie is not as meaty as the others but she runs with them during the day and is actually the most personable of them all. She has been laying eggs daily for about a month now.

One thing I have discovered is that my battery operated fingernail polisher works great for beak filing. It has various attachments to chose from and to me seems like a better option than the more industrial drummel tools. I have only filed Oatie's beak about 4 times in 8 months, so the main extra effort comes from daily bowls of oatmeal which is no different than taking care of the others, just another 2 minutes of prep time and occassional cleanings of her face and beard which get caked with oatmeal.

I hope this forum gives others the motivation to give crossed beak chicks a chance at life simply by putting forth a little effort.