What kind of Vitamins should I give a Scissor Beak?

[Phantom_k9]

I've started to worry about our scissor beak hen. She has been our best layer (once laying two eggs in one day!), and she is as sweet as can be. For the past few days, when we let her out of the coop she runs to an exposed patch of ground pecking furiously at snail shells. We have started to give her a mash of layer pure layer feed since we thing this is because of her wanting calcium.
I also would like to get her some vitamins. I am wondering what kind I would need that could be mixed into her feed mash? Thanks in advance!

 

[cherrynberry]

I've started to worry about our scissor beak hen. She has been our best layer (once laying two eggs in one day!), and she is as sweet as can be. For the past few days, when we let her out of the coop she runs to an exposed patch of ground pecking furiously at snail shells. We have started to give her a mash of layer pure layer feed since we thing this is because of her wanting calcium.
I also would like to get her some vitamins. I am wondering what kind I would need that could be mixed into her feed mash? Thanks in advance!

If she could drink water on her own...which I think she can. You can add honey and garlic in her water.

 

[Phantom_k9]

If she could drink water on her own...which I think she can. You can add honey and garlic in her water.

She kind of can... I have raised every waterer for her and to keep them from getting dirty, and she is able to drink out of a normal waterer. I also have a food trough which I use for water, but she prefers the regular ones. I'm curious if I could mix in the garlic / honey, or store bought vitamins, into the water I use to mix up her food?

 

[cherrynberry]

She kind of can... I have raised every waterer for her and to keep them from getting dirty, and she is able to drink out of a normal waterer. I also have a food trough which I use for water, but she prefers the regular ones. I'm curious if I could mix in the garlic / honey, or store bought vitamins, into the water I use to mix up her food?

I am not too sure on that. Go to YouTube and search “magic water” for the honey/garlic recipe

 

[coach723]

How old is she? Can you post a picture so we can see the beak? How is her weight?
She may just really crave snails.
If she's on a good balanced feed and her weight is good, then she's probably fine. Depending on how the beak looks, a trim might help her feed better, birds with this issue sometimes can't hone it sufficiently on their own and having it get overgrown just makes things even harder for them. Feeding her a mash regularly in an open, raised, deeper dish, can make it easier for her, dry crumbles or pellets are a lot harder for birds like this to pick up, and anything ground level is harder.
There are poultry vitamins available that you can mix into the feed. Rooster booster makes one.

 

[Folly's place]

Better yet, leave the honey and garlic out. Is she thin, by feel? It's hard for her to eat enough to also be producing eggs, and she needs lots of help, as you've been doing.
Make sure she doesn't have mites or lice (look at night with a flashlight), And maybe have a fecal run looking for intestinal parasites. Any added issues she has will make her life even more difficult.
Can she pick up grit and oyster shell? She might need both, and have problems getting anything off the ground. Do you have deep dishes of both in your coop?
Are her egg shells hard, or thinning out/ That's a clue about her calcium needs.
If she is underweight, she's just not able to eat enough to meet her needs, often what happens with these birds.
Mary

 

[Phantom_k9]

How old is she? Can you post a picture so we can see the beak? How is her weight?
She may just really crave snails.
If she's on a good balanced feed and her weight is good, then she's probably fine. Depending on how the beak looks, a trim might help her feed better, birds with this issue sometimes can't hone it sufficiently on their own and having it get overgrown just makes things even harder for them. Feeding her a mash regularly in an open, raised, deeper dish, can make it easier for her, dry crumbles or pellets are a lot harder for birds like this to pick up, and anything ground level is harder.
There are poultry vitamins available that you can mix into the feed. Rooster booster makes one.

She is just under a year old! I will post a picture of her beak in a few, but we have been able to manage it well. Weight wise she is very skinny. Feeling her sternum (or what ever it is called in birds), I would give her a 1.5 or a 2. I can post a picture of the scale I'm looking at if need be.
I try to do everything I can to give her as much feed as I can, feeding her 3-5+ times a day.

We had an incident when we first tried to trim her beak, she bled and we couldn't stop it. I would say she almost didn't make it. Ever since we have been weary of trimming her beak and have tried to file it down. However, she has been good about keeping her beak down as well, making our job easier.

Better yet, leave the honey and garlic out. Is she thin, by feel? It's hard for her to eat enough to also be producing eggs, and she needs lots of help, as you've been doing.
Make sure she doesn't have mites or lice (look at night with a flashlight), And maybe have a fecal run looking for intestinal parasites. Any added issues she has will make her life even more difficult.
Can she pick up grit and oyster shell? She might need both, and have problems getting anything off the ground. Do you have deep dishes of both in your coop?
Are her egg shells hard, or thinning out/ That's a clue about her calcium needs.
If she is underweight, she's just not able to eat enough to meet her needs, often what happens with these birds.
Mary

She is underweight, and I have done everything I can to try and help her grow and be healthy. Like I said, I would give her a 1.5-2. I don't think she has any mites or lice, but I will check again today to make sure.
She isn't able to pick up anything that isn't in a sticky mash form. I have seen her peck at an egg shell for 5 minutes straight without success (hence why we are giving her layer feed). Even when we put the egg shell on top of her mash feed, she would try to peck the shell with no success (if only she new to eat the food!!!). We used to pulverize egg shells and mix a few pinches into her food each time we made it. I have started to do that again, adding it into the layer mash. I also added some grit to her food as well, mixed in so she wouldn't know.
She is the smallest bird in the flock, and I know it has got to be hard on her.
Last night, after giving her more egg shells, she didn't rush out to the same spot of earth, and hanged around with the flock. So I am pretty sure she just needed the calcium.
Regardless, I need to get her on some vitamins!

 

[coach723]

I feed my whole flock mash every day. If you do that then you would not have to perhaps go out and feed her individually each time. Just figure the amount for all, mix it up and put it out. I put it out every morning and it lasts for most of the day. I also have dry feed in feeders for those that want it. I put out 6 open pans of mash spread out, everyone gets a chance to feed that way, at some point. It sounds like she's not getting enough, rather than it being a calcium issue. Could be competition with others, or just that she's struggling with the beak. The snails could just be attractive because she is hungry. The deeper the dish the better, some will dunk their heads in to get enough.

 

[Phantom_k9]

I feed my whole flock mash every day. If you do that then you would not have to perhaps go out and feed her individually each time. Just figure the amount for all, mix it up and put it out. I put it out every morning and it lasts for most of the day. I also have dry feed in feeders for those that want it. I put out 6 open pans of mash spread out, everyone gets a chance to feed that way, at some point. It sounds like she's not getting enough, rather than it being a calcium issue. Could be competition with others, or just that she's struggling with the beak. The snails could just be attractive because she is hungry. The deeper the dish the better, some will dunk their heads in to get enough.

I like to keep her separate in order to see how much see eats in a sitting. We have a dog crate ontop of a table that we put her in to feed in order to make sure she doesn't have any competition. I'll mostly shut the door on her, she eats her fill, pushes open the door when she is done, and that usually is that. I do have an issue where the feed gets really hard and we have to add more water so she can eat everything.

 

[Folly's place]

This is the sad problem with scissor beaked birds, and especially a pullet or hen whos laying eggs. She's malnourished, and unable to take in the calories and nutrients she needs. Try talking to a poultry nutritionist, I wonder though if a more calorie and protein dense feed, with added calcium, would help. Layer feed is at the minimum required nutrients scale, maybe just not enough for her.
Scrambled eggs, with mashed shells?
Mary