Crooked beak

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Fluffy Hens said:
Omg, I have the same bird, same color. Mine was in a bin at TSC. Her beak looks just like the one you have. She eats fine, preferrs pellets over crumbles and I trim it. She is a happy, friendly bird.
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Fluffy hens, wow that’s great that she’s doing so well! Gives me hope for mine. Glad to hear it’s not always a death sentence. Funny I guess chickens can have look alikes
 
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I have a cross-beaked 11 month old hen. I think her beak is more out of alignment than your pullet's. She did fine on her own for 9 months without any interference from me. By then her beak grew into a hook and she started to fail. I trimmed it and began feeding her away from the others for a couple of weeks. She is back to laying eggs now. She does require feeding away from everyone else at least once a day. Soupy food works better for her, but she can manage on crumbles too. I have to keep an eye on her beak and trim it when needed (which is really hard because she is semi-feral!). It was a PITA to feed her separately at first, but now its just part of the routine. She actually comes into the house and stands on her rug waiting for her meal, then runs to the door when she is finished to be let out again.
 
When it's pretty noticeably crooked you're mainly trimming to keep the tip from hooking over (since they may have trouble wearing it down themselves, as a normal bird would). I use dog nail clippers to clip the tip (be careful with this, keep cuts conservative as you don't want to split the beak) and then an emery board to file and shape it.

I've never had a severe case of crossbeak but even with more conservative cases it helps a lot to provide feed in deeper dishes (as they may struggle to pick up food, so they need to scoop a bit) and/or to wet some feed because that is far easier for them to eat.

If your bird really does start to struggle and you know you don't have time or the desire to deal with things like tube feeding, the kindest thing would be to put it down if it reaches that point.
 
HuffleClaw said:
@Stacyoung13 also has a cross-beaked chicken. Maybe she can provide some advice? :pop
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My baby is a White Crested Blue Polish named ‘Beakers’. She was born with a severe cross beak and only one eye. She is almost a month old, and has been feeding herself for about 2 weeks now. She is eating baby feed out of feeder, she turns her head sideways. She spends a lot of her time at the feeder. I have been keeping an eye on her weight (I have her hatch mate also...compare weight), and decided that I need to feed her once a day...supplement what she’s not getting...she’s not gaining as much weight as Chilly. I haven’t had to mess with any trimming...Yet!! The only advice I can give is to just keep an eye on her, you’ll know if something is wrong! I’m learning as I go, and there’s no better place to learn than here on BYC!! Good luck and keep me posted
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You can read how I come about adopting her in the Pictures and Stories forum...Beaker’s: the cross beaked/one eyed Polish.
 
She is proving quite hard to catch right now but I checked her yesterday and it seems that her crop felt full but it was new to me to check that so hopefully I’m right. I haven’t weighed her yet but if she lets me catch her tonight I will try. Thanks for all the info everyone


renay said:
She gets her food in a dish and its watered down. She's a messy eater so she gets a tray. She can't seem to figure out the utensils though. lol
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That is hilarious
Shadrach said:
Before you cut/trim this hens beak you should read these articles.
Any type of major beak trimming should be done by a vet. Not by someone who 'had a go' with some dog nail clippers!

/
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Yeah that makes sense I definitely don’t want to hurt her or overdo it, I don’t feel super comfortable to clip it anyways and I was hoping not to. Thanks for the info on that
Stacyyoung13 your little one is so cute.
 

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