Crossed beaks and missing eyes

[Bird-Whisperer]

Hi y'all! Yesterday I was at the local feedstore and noticed these 3 were separated from the rest of the chicks. The black one is always looking down (maybe a neck deformity?), one orange chick has a slightly misaligned beak and a malformed left eye, the other orange one has a very crossed beak and is completely missing his right eye! Although they look funny, they all seem healthy and are active and noisy. I've been syringe feeding the one with the super crossed beak since he's having some trouble eating. I just wanted to share here since I know some of y'all would be interested. And If y'all have any advice I will gladly take it

 

[MROO]

Good for you for helping out these babies. Blind chickens can do well, but noy usually in a large flock. They get picked on a lot. As for the crossbeak, try this article. There's a lot of good info in it:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...-beak-chickens-from-hatch-to-adulthood.79390/
Do you know what breeds they are? Good Luck!

 

[Bird-Whisperer]

Good for you for helping out these babies. Blind chickens can do well, but noy usually in a large flock. They get picked on a lot. As for the crossbeak, try this article. There's a lot of good info in it:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...-beak-chickens-from-hatch-to-adulthood.79390/
Do you know what breeds they are? Good Luck!

Thanks, I'll read up on the cross beaks!

I'm not sure what breeds they are but hopefully they all reach adulthood and I'll be able to guess. I'll certainly post updates & maybe y'all can help identify them

 

[CoopBoots]

Hi y'all! Yesterday I was at the local feedstore and noticed these 3 were separated from the rest of the chicks. The black one is always looking down (maybe a neck deformity?), one orange chick has a slightly misaligned beak and a malformed left eye, the other orange one has a very crossed beak and is completely missing his right eye! Although they look funny, they all seem healthy and are active and noisy. I've been syringe feeding the one with the super crossed beak since he's having some trouble eating. I just wanted to share here since I know some of y'all would be interested. And If y'all have any advice I will gladly take it

You have such a big heart. Bless you for taking these little souls home!!

I don't have much advice, except to say I do keep my special needs birds in a smaller, separate group, and they do really well that way. Only one is seriously impaired with wry neck/a neck injury we could not heal, but she has the biggest personality and still thrives with her friends.

 

[GuineaMania]

Thanks, I'll read up on the cross beaks!

I'm not sure what breeds they are but hopefully they all reach adulthood and I'll be able to guess. I'll certainly post updates & maybe y'all can help identify them

Good for you for helping them! The black chick looks kind of like a Black Australorp to me.

 

[Bird-Whisperer]

Good day everyone, I'm just posting a little update: all 3 chicks are growing and doing well!

The crossbeak with one eye is definitely smaller than the other two, but he's learned to eat mush/baby bird mix on his own (I've been giving him Katee and Mazuri baby bird mix in a small bowl in the mornings/evenings and they all have access to chick crumble during the day). He's also able to groom himself normally (last picture).

The other orange one's beak seems to have straightened out and he doesn't seem to have any problems with depth perception as he can pick small bugs from the ground, so I'm guessing that his "half eye" can detect some light/shadow. And this guy is ULTRA MEGA CUDDLY and flies at me when I come check on him.

And the black Austrolorp chick seems to be completely normal now!

During the day I keep them in a small pen with some Japanese Bantams. Once they get big I'll try moving them into the main run with all the other full size chickens and see how they fare. Worse case scenario, they'll just stay with the Japanese bantams

 

[TwoCrows]

Good day everyone, I'm just posting a little update: all 3 chicks are growing and doing well!

The crossbeak with one eye is definitely smaller than the other two, but he's learned to eat mush/baby bird mix on his own (I've been giving him Katee and Mazuri baby bird mix in a small bowl in the mornings/evenings and they all have access to chick crumble during the day). He's also able to groom himself normally (last picture).

The other orange one's beak seems to have straightened out and he doesn't seem to have any problems with depth perception as he can pick small bugs from the ground, so I'm guessing that his "half eye" can detect some light/shadow. And this guy is ULTRA MEGA CUDDLY and flies at me when I come check on him.

And the black Austrolorp chick seems to be completely normal now!

During the day I keep them in a small pen with some Japanese Bantams. Once they get big I'll try moving them into the main run with all the other full size chickens and see how they fare. Worse case scenario, they'll just stay with the Japanese bantams

Thanks for the update, they are all looking fabulous!

 

[Bird-Whisperer]

An Update: My chicks are about 7 months old now and 2 of 3 are laying eggs regularly! My one eyed cross beak (whom I've named Soup) still has not laid and I'm not sure she ever will, but she's thriving with the rest!

Maybe a month after my last post I started making oatmeal for Soup and she was able to eat that on her own from a bowl. But she grew very quickly and within a couple of weeks she was knocking the bowl over and kicking oats everywhere; I also wanted to make sure she was getting enough nutrients so I started torpedo feeding. I kept that up for about 2 weeks but it was exhausting to make so many little torpedos (Soup is always ravenous, lol) so I switched to tube feeding and it made life 100x easier for both of us. I got a tube & syringe originally from Springwater Avian Health - they also have an "avian shake" mix for tube feeding, but I've been making my own.

The syringe didn't last too long and I ended up buying a bunch from this company along with 2 more red rubber catheters (size 18 french) just in case. I actually like the red rubber one better than the original clear plastic tube I got: it's a little harder to get started but once she lets me put it in, it goes down really easy. Just a personal preference as both tubes work great.

For the feed itself, I've been using a small coffee grinder to grind up regular crumble feed and using a sieve to remove any bigger chunks so it doesn't clog. I also add a bit of this to the mix and it keeps her feathers looking shiny. I keep this "dry mix" in a tupperware container and just mix a few heaping spoonfuls with hot/warm water in a jar, that way I can keep the jar in the fridge if I have leftovers and reuse it the next day. I of course make sure the food is cooled down or warmed up to room temp before feeding.

Over the last month, Soup has finally figured out how to pick up regular feed on her own! She stopped spinning in circles and learned how to aim; I got a deep ceramic dish that's heavy enough she can't knock it over when she scratches through her food and I've been experimenting with mash, dry crumble, and dry pellets. So far I think she's eating the most when I make the wet crumble mash, but some day's she'll go for the other chicken's dry pellets instead - and she's so hyper she tends to kick their food everywhere

I left her to eat on her own for about 3 weeks now and decided I still need to tube feed her every once in a while. She's definitely not eating as much as a normal chicken would so she's a little boney, but funny enough she's more energetic than anyone else!