Cross Beak / Scissor Beak

Good Morning Permies!

I tried to do a search and am surprised that I am the first one to broach the topic but here I am.

In my order of chicks, I have discovered one of my girls has cross beak. I was confident I had checked all of them upon delivery but the proof is in the pudding, my little one has an abnormality.

I'm researching all that I can to be able to give her the best chance at thriving. She appears to be eating and drinking but she is smaller than the other chicks. She is active and one of my more aggressive scratchers/foragers.

I'm willing to hear any and all advice or experiences to have realistic expectations of what it is like raising a chicken with a crossbeak.

Thanks!

Good morning!
Congratulations on your healthy and happy chicks. Now, to keep them that way!

Most chicks sent through mail order are screened better than that, but you do get the occasional "oops". Just like in a shipment of 24 pullets, there seems to be an unfortunate cockerel who wasn't caught by the sexers. Cross beak is usually treated in a similar way by many, if they even bother.
By "treated in a similar way", I refer back to the unfortunate cockerel in a box of pullets - he's probably destined for Freezer Camp, if not just killed earlier, depending on the chicken keeper's personal philosophies and how they deal with things like that.

I have had mild cross beak cases, and a very dramatically cross-beaked pullet. I treat my chicks the same way. I resolve to not breed that chick, then give them the early support they need to live their "best life" and go from there.  I also tend to keep those random cockerels until/unless they cause unwarranted amounts of trouble. I've had situations where that "spare" cockerel ended up a flock-saver of some sort, or proved to be a Good Roo.

The mild cross beak birds I've had in the past managed quite well without help and were able to "sharpen" their beaks once they were older so that the cross beak wasn't noticeable once they were grown. They turned out to be good birds, but not in my "must save the eggs" group.
The severely cross-beaked chick I had grew up well. She looked to be almost as severe as yours. I offered her a range of food items, along with the rest of her group, and she grew up happy, healthy, and a little slower than the others. I would love to have given you a good report, but she was one of the many who disappeared while I was in the hospital two years ago. I suspect a cat (we have bobcats in addition to the ferals), raccoon, opossum, or dog got her.  

While my severely cross-beaked chick did well, I have had others that did not. Even with damp food, porridge/oatmeal, cornpone/spoonbread, and other preparations (I would make a bird safer version of the standard recipes with chicken-centric ingredients), some chicks just don't figure out how to eat. Maybe there's a difference in the amount of "twist" they have to the lower beak/mandible, or maybe there are other issues, internal and external, that aren't as easily seen. It can be hard to tell.

I'm of the "let them try" school, for all my big talk, and will give the chicks as much of a chance as I can, and sorrow if they can't manage. Others will consider it a slow starvation and put the chick down. It's a philosophical decision.

If you decide to try to work with her, I suggest supportive nutrition - yes, she will probably grow slower and not as well. Offering cooked chopped egg, porridges (peas cooked/mashed into a paste, oatmeal, polenta-ish, ...) and other vitamin enriched options can help. You can make a paste out of chick feed and a bit of hot water, let it cool, and see how she does with it.
It looks like her tongue is firmly in her lower beak. That means she will have some trouble swallowing, but how much trouble she'll have is something you need to check. Too much trouble and she will either give up because eating is stressful and does her no good, or she'll try to eat EVERYTHING and choke. Just watch her to see what happens.

Take a little time and think about your options. What are you willing and able to do? Do you have the time and inclination to feed her with an eyedropper? Are you willing to make special chicken foods so that she can eat? If she was intended for your egg flock, or meat flock, is that still a good place for her? Are you more inclined to give her a chance, and what will you do if she can't swallow? Can you put her down and what would that mean to you?

At the very least, I suggest contacting the hatchery and letting them know one of the chicks has cross-beak. They probably won't do anything about it, considering some of the odder malformations and responses I've had over the years, but you're doing your due diligence as a customer by informing them so they can check with their policies and/or employees. It's a congenital malformation, and one that can be scary serious, but also one that can be adjusted for depending on the severity and how the chick is affected. It looks like it's a bad case, but you're right there with her and can make better informed decisions.

Best thoughts!

Thank you for your extensive reply, it is the exactly what I was looking for!

I reached out to the Hatchery (Meyers Hatchery) and they refunded me the cost of the chick.

The breed was Lisa Steele Cookies and Cream

The breed is reported as a hybrid, which I didn't put much thought to but after looking at the reviews it seems that a few other people have run into the cross beak. What is a little further distressing is the fact that some people are reporting sudden death in birds that are a few months old. It is going to be a bit of a tense few months but my partner and I are planning on observing the chick's own will to survive.

I am happy to report that she is pooping a normal amount, and appears to be managing to eat and drink. She fell asleep in my fiancé's hands earlier and rested there for a bit making 'purring' noises.

I have read that beak trimming is often required so I'm currently trying to read up on the best ways to do it so hopefully before she needs it I will feel more confident.

Yeah, I try to stay away from the "fashion" birds until they have a few years in the marketplace or there's someone who's got background trying to make a gene-stable something or other. There are a few waterfowl and chicken researchers I follow, but they tend to be in for long term stuff, nothing fashionable. I did get a few of the "Rock and The Blues" from Murray McMurray a couple of years back, but none of those made it to the first year - too many chickens just don't have the brains that The Powers That Be gave sponges and try to do silly things that make them targets for predators and other things.

Anyway.
So. I don't think your chick is anywhere close to needing a beak trim. Yet. Yeah, read up on it. Read up on whatever you can find that's interesting to you. If you stay interested in chickens, or poultry, or animal care, you will use it eventually.  
So, when they're moved out to the run/yard/whatever you move them out to eventually, they will take care of most of their beak care all by themselves. I've only had to trim one beak, one time, and it was for the badly cross-beaked bird and before all the hospital excitement (which is probably why I remember, even if vaguely).

You can use standard nail trimmers of whatever sort you use on yourself. Just take little pinches off the part you want to trim - you DO NOT want to cut into the quick. You just want to reshape the beak slowly and over time.
It's easy to do and probably more stressful for you than the bird.
Otherwise, give your flock access to a good sized rock or piece of concrete and they'll "polish" their beaks against it by themselves. I have chickens with wildly divergent tastes in how they "wear" their beaks, and I can watch them polish on concrete blocks, good sized rocks, and sturdy things (like metal or wood) that might be useful in a chicken's mind. Some beaks are shorter or sharper or longer or curved. As long as they work, I figure it's a fashion statement.

As long as she's pooping well and regularly, she's eating well and regularly. It might take her longer to eat enough, but if she's figured it out, no sense in thinking too hard about it. You can watch her to make sure she's growing steadily and just space out your supplements that way. Otherwise, if she has developed some coping skills, let her do her thing!

Chickens are amazing in that they don't seem to see things as obvious disabilities. It's one reason I have no trouble with my well-healed frostbite survivors, or the occasional bird that needs time to recover from whatever horrible thing happened. The chickens really don't care.
My cross-beaked girls have never had trouble once they grew up, and I've already told you about the one chick with the severe cross-beak.

You'll be fine. And, yes. Chickens purr. It's rather sweet. Hugs to your little balls of fluff and peep!

I wanted to close out my experience with an unfortunate update.

We have not had any issues with our little cross beak until we found her this morning passed away. She had been trampled so I can only imagine what happened but at least she is not suffering any more. Livestock can be hard but this is just a part of nature.

The other eleven are flourishing and I need to just keep my head up.

Life can be strange sometimes, but it is full of lessons.

I sorrow for your loss.
Yes, chicks do die and they do it as amazingly high rates, sometimes. I work to remind myself that it's all part of the plan and part of why chickens were chosen to become livestock back in the Very Early Days.

She was well cared for, loved, and had a month of life with you. That's not a bad go of it, all things considered.

Sometimes the best we can do is to do the best we can and make it as easy for the little ones in our care as possible. You did that.  <3

I'm so sorry, Timothy. You're absolutely correct - livestock can be really hard. I've lost track, at this point, of the actual number of losses we've had, in the last 4 years. Hopefully, going forward, it will be a primarily wonderful experience, for you & your fiancé.