When I first noticed Drew’s crossbeak.. ( Drew, after Drew Barrymore because she talks out of the side of her mouth 
) she was about a week and a half old. It was slightly curved off to the side of her mouth and I lovingly named her Drew and made plans for her to stay in my flock. As Drew has grown it appears her crossbeak is getting more and more off to the side to where it almost looks like an open pair of scissors. I have noticed that Drew cannot eat crumble at all and would have to be fed Mash the rest of her life. Still, with mash, I don’t think she is getting everything the others are getting. She is about half the size of the other F3 olive eggers in her group. She still has a lot of baby feathering too where as the others have developed a lot of their adult feathers. She is skin and bones and I’ve decided to not isolate her to eat, I just fix a large dish of mash for the entire group of 7 as if I took her away from the group...when I would go to put her back she would be bottom of the pecking order on top of having an ailment where she has to fight for food. I wanted her to be able to stand on her own. Well....now the decisions have come to if it is more humane to cull Drew as her deformity is growing worse, or is it more humane to let her live out her life constantly hungry, but getting to live? Before I made any decisions I wanted to ask y’all and see what you have to say.
Drew is a little dirty in her pictures, this is actually after I cleaned her all up after her feeding. She gets REALLY messy when she eats because she is so ravenous when the food is put down she kind of gets it all over. She still messy after being wiped down.
wanted to also add: This little boy/girl is extremely fiesty. She is definitely not one of those who will stand down, she/ he is very independent but I also feel the others have kind of understood that she has special needs and even kind of protect her which just melts my heart.
please give me any and all advice. I was crying for hours last night at the thought I may have to cull her. I have 20 other chickens that I care for. This isn’t a situation where I’m only taking care of one chicken solely.
) she was about a week and a half old. It was slightly curved off to the side of her mouth and I lovingly named her Drew and made plans for her to stay in my flock. As Drew has grown it appears her crossbeak is getting more and more off to the side to where it almost looks like an open pair of scissors. I have noticed that Drew cannot eat crumble at all and would have to be fed Mash the rest of her life. Still, with mash, I don’t think she is getting everything the others are getting. She is about half the size of the other F3 olive eggers in her group. She still has a lot of baby feathering too where as the others have developed a lot of their adult feathers. She is skin and bones and I’ve decided to not isolate her to eat, I just fix a large dish of mash for the entire group of 7 as if I took her away from the group...when I would go to put her back she would be bottom of the pecking order on top of having an ailment where she has to fight for food. I wanted her to be able to stand on her own. Well....now the decisions have come to if it is more humane to cull Drew as her deformity is growing worse, or is it more humane to let her live out her life constantly hungry, but getting to live? Before I made any decisions I wanted to ask y’all and see what you have to say.Drew is a little dirty in her pictures, this is actually after I cleaned her all up after her feeding. She gets REALLY messy when she eats because she is so ravenous when the food is put down she kind of gets it all over. She still messy after being wiped down.
wanted to also add: This little boy/girl is extremely fiesty. She is definitely not one of those who will stand down, she/ he is very independent but I also feel the others have kind of understood that she has special needs and even kind of protect her which just melts my heart.
please give me any and all advice. I was crying for hours last night at the thought I may have to cull her. I have 20 other chickens that I care for. This isn’t a situation where I’m only taking care of one chicken solely.
