EDIT: We seem to be on the correct path as far as her throat is concerned, but her throat is what's worrying us most now. We're not sure what to do about it. Any ideas?
I'll start by answering the suggested questions.
1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.) Black Austrolorp, 7 weeks, less than half the weight of others.
2) What is the behavior, exactly. At feeder all day.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? Hook beak, since 2 weeks, protruding throat - couple weeks.
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? One other Black Austrolorp has crossbeak
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. No
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. Genetics? Need help with this one.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. Eating fermented scratch and starter/grower.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. ?? Have 48 chicks in tractor.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? Trimmed upper beak, but still hooked.
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? Will treat ourselves.
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use. Large chicken tractor. Still sleeping on grass.
This is peaches, the friendliest chick we have.
Out of 10 Black Austrolorps, there is peaches and another one that has crossbeak. I'm thinking too much inbreeding. Is that correct?
Is her lower beak short?
She's had "cottonmouth", don't know if that's what it really is, it's kinda like slime in the corners of her mouth. Is this normal? I've been expecting to find her dead the last few days, but she keeps on trucking. She'll run, jump, flap, just like the others, but spends most of her day at the feeder.
Everything we read mentioned clipping the beak, kinda like a dogs toenails. She's been having trouble at the feeder and is pecking at food all day and makes a mess on herself. Oh yeah, she's probably less than half the weight of the next smallest chick. Here she is after we clipped her beak a bit.
Unless advised otherwise, we'll keep trimming her upper beak.
As far as I know, there is nothing we can do if her lower beak is short. I would just like to know.
Does anyone have any ideas on the throat? In the pics above, that's how she normally looks. It'll stick out about twice as far as that when she's swallowing. The tip of it is fairly hard.
Thanks for helping.
I'll start by answering the suggested questions.
1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.) Black Austrolorp, 7 weeks, less than half the weight of others.
2) What is the behavior, exactly. At feeder all day.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? Hook beak, since 2 weeks, protruding throat - couple weeks.
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? One other Black Austrolorp has crossbeak
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. No
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. Genetics? Need help with this one.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. Eating fermented scratch and starter/grower.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. ?? Have 48 chicks in tractor.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? Trimmed upper beak, but still hooked.
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? Will treat ourselves.
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use. Large chicken tractor. Still sleeping on grass.
This is peaches, the friendliest chick we have.
Out of 10 Black Austrolorps, there is peaches and another one that has crossbeak. I'm thinking too much inbreeding. Is that correct?
Is her lower beak short?
She's had "cottonmouth", don't know if that's what it really is, it's kinda like slime in the corners of her mouth. Is this normal? I've been expecting to find her dead the last few days, but she keeps on trucking. She'll run, jump, flap, just like the others, but spends most of her day at the feeder.
Everything we read mentioned clipping the beak, kinda like a dogs toenails. She's been having trouble at the feeder and is pecking at food all day and makes a mess on herself. Oh yeah, she's probably less than half the weight of the next smallest chick. Here she is after we clipped her beak a bit.
Unless advised otherwise, we'll keep trimming her upper beak.
As far as I know, there is nothing we can do if her lower beak is short. I would just like to know.
Does anyone have any ideas on the throat? In the pics above, that's how she normally looks. It'll stick out about twice as far as that when she's swallowing. The tip of it is fairly hard.
Thanks for helping.
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