Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

These chickens are 14 wk old, and one has a crooked beak. When viewed from the top, it veers slightly to the left (say points to 11:30, if a straight beak would be 12 o'clock). And viewed from the side, it is quite hooked and makes an over-bite. She does not visually appear to be any smaller than her brood-mates, so it would not appear to be hampering her eating (although I have not weighed them since they were small).

Should I take a cutting plier to it? metal file? or only a vet should attempt this? or leave well enough alone, if she seems otherwise okay?

Sorry out of 15 pictures, this is the only one where she was still enough to be slightly in focus : - (

1. Don't breed her
2. If it were me I would try a light trim back with a file after to make it smooth.
She should be fine remember that many operations cut that top beak way back as a chick. Just go slowly.

Myself, I would take a side cutter and snip. Not square to the front, but sort of angled so the point of whats left will be more or less at the front. Might bleed a little, then take some table salt in your palm and sort of dip the beak in, but best to not go that deep if you can help it. Not saying thats the right thing to do, but its what I would do.

I find a nail clipper a good tool, that way you can take a bit at the time off ,
and trim the shape so the bird can eat and drink.
You will need to keep an eye on her size, if she keeps up in size with her hatch mates, she can live a useful life

I had a cross billed chick once. It was fine at first, but stayed small so I took it to a veterinarian that I knew who treated poultry. Unfortunately my chick was too badly deformed to help, it had food impacted up into it's nasal passages and the roof of it's mouth because of the shape of it's beak. The vet said she often filed cross bills, that some required regular trimming and filing, but were fine otherwise, and that some minor crossings could even be corrected. She was going to use a dremel tool do it.

Here is a pic of one of our first Ready to Lay hens. She had a horrid beak trim and it exposed her tongue slightly. SHe never had a problem feeding. I don't think you'll do your girl any harm. They are tougher than we think.

I agree with farrier trim it now, it might bleed some but if you don't trim now it will get drastically worse.
I would cut off the deformed bit on the top beak to match the bottom bill. It will probably bleed but if you don't it will get so bad you have to kill it. Toenail clippers should work well.
Dremil tool would probably work better but I don't know how you will get the bird to hold still and apply the pressure for it to work.

Thought I would ask the question, is cross beak a genetic issue? Or just that the chick had a hard hatch and isn't very storng?

kenya wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 14, 2020 3:27 pm

Dremil tool would probably work better but I don't know how you will get the bird to hold still and apply the pressure for it to work.

Dont put the chicken in the vise, it never turns out well.

Kbr42 wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 15, 2020 7:25 am

Thought I would ask the question, is cross beak a genetic issue? Or just that the chick had a hard hatch and isn't very storng?

most likely genetic, but there is always a possibility something happened during development of the embryo