[WR1]

Hiya everyone ,

Just come back from a boiling hols !!

The French Chicks are blomming massive!!

But got a problem with one it has a very wonky beak and my aunt said it seems to be getting worse as it gets older is this a big problem ??


Will get pics up soon

Catii

[Vember]

She's eating and drinking ok at the moment??
Are they still in the brooder Catii ??

[GrannieAnnie]

Wecome back Catii, glad you had a nice holiday.  Lucky girl!!!!

How do you mean wonky?  Is it actually moving from side to side, or is it just growing at a funny angle?  My Brian said is it top beak or bottom beak?

Sounds strange whatever it is.

[WR1]

Sarah- Ye she seems to be  eating and drinking fine and pecks at stuff and all in all she seems healthy.


Grannie Annie- The wonky one is the top one it seems to be just growing on the side and the bottom is fine but the rest peck at his beak because well my dad thinks because they think he has food in his mouth . But its very wonky will get a pick on in a while because they are running around crazy so i dont want to interupt them lol!!

Im just worried because if we would have to put her down i would be very upset  :cry:

Many Thanks

Catii

[Vember]

We'll be able to tell better once we've seen a photo Catii
But try not to worry for now if she's eating & drinking ok.


Once they've got tierd after playing chase pop a picture up  




Sarah

[WR1]

Heres a pic of him/her and some more lol !!


Could only get one pic of him he wouldnt stay still !!









Hope this pic will be good and give us goood news!!


Catii

[Vember]

Looks very strange Catii???

I will have a quick look through my books

BRB

[WR1]

Thanks Sarah ,

[Vember]

Hi Catii

The only thing I can find is a refrence to something called A Crossed Beak,
which looks similar to your little one .

From what it say's it's a genetic deformity, meaning it's something it's mum & dad have given it  

In the book it does advise that any like this should be put to sleep, BUT I have just googled it and there are some people who say their chicks have been ok so long as they have deep feeders so they can get their beaks right into the food.
You might find that he/she grows at a slower rate than the others and you will have to keep a very close eye on her/him to make sure it's eating proper.

See what Grannie say's when she has a look but I'd be tempted to see how it goes for now


Sarah

[WR1]

Thanks Sarah for a sec I had a tier comeing , the BUT was a nice word lol:L


Our feeder is quite deep she should be okiee.

I will wait for Grannie Annie to come !

I hope she will be fine its just the smallest one is a bit of a bully and has go at everyone but mostly him/her is this a problemo ??


Catii

[Vember]

Try and stop the bully if you can Catii

Have they got any toys in with them? I have a small mirror and a teddy in with my little ones   Or an Old Cd dangling acts like a mirror

If they hurt him/her till he/she bleeds then they wont stop because they love the colour red  :shock:  (I preffer purple  :roll:)

The others all look really big  :shock:  They don't stay tiny for long do they


Sarah

[WR1]

Lol my fave colour is yellow and orange !!

Okiee i will hang a old cd or something like that.

Wish they stayed like little fur balls



Catii

[GrannieAnnie]

Hi there!  Thanks for the PM Catii, I don't get on here much during the day, as always busy outside with 500 chooks and turkeys to look after!!!

Poor little chicky, it defo does look like crossed beak, and looks like the bottom one is the one in the wrong position from the photo.

Like Sarah says, really it should be put to sleep and if it was in a commercial situation, it would hae been by now!  BUT!  you are not a commercial farm, and like most of us you want the best for your babies.  So I agree with Sarah, see how it goes.  The others may get used to it after a while, its because it looks different from the rest of them, they are picking on it.  

If they do peck her and make her bleed, the purple spray they use for horses is good as it helps heal anything and the purple hides any red blood.  the other thing I use for wounds is vaseline and liqui paraffin mixed, or as liquid paraffin isn't as easy to get now, mix vaslin with baby oil!  but I've not tried that one yet.  Mix it together and smear is on the wounds.

But back to the beak!  I can only agree with Sarah, and see how he/she gets on.  if she can eat and drink okay, she may catch up in weight, or she may stay small, like a couple I've had in the past.

But I wish you lots of luck with it.  Keep us up to date won't you?  Fingers crossed!!!!!

Mind you, just to add to that, if you find he/she isn't getting enough to eat and drink, it would be cruel to try to keep her alive as she will slowy starve to death, and you don't want that either do you?  So I don't want you to get upset, but when you keep animals, sometimes you have to do these things!

[WR1]

Many thanks GrannieAnnie .

WOW 500 CHOOCKS THATS ALOT !!!!


Well all the pecking seems to be gone they dont bother anymore and she eats and drinks wonderfully now and plays with the rest and seems to be pecking at stuff she wants to !!


We had to chicks the same and the one that was eggsactly the same as this one with the wonky beak is small aswell so I think she will be okiee.


Quistion for Grannie Annie - How many choocks did you start off with and do you live on a farm ??


Catii

[GrannieAnnie]

No Catii, we don't live on a farm, but we have a half acre garden, which is registered as a smallholding.  When we lived in Essex we kept about 50 chickens and geese, then turkeys at Christmas.

then when we moved here, we got some meat chickens and had 75 ex battery hens, but I had to re-home the ex batts after we bought 12 point of lay hens which included the 6 Amberlinks.  We liked the white Amberlinks, so I found out where they were hatched and ordered 125 day old chicks.  Then they phoned me from the hatchery saying that 500 hadn't been collected and were going to be gassed if they couldn't sell them, as they don't have the facilities at the hatchery to keep them overnight.  So we ended up with 300 of them.  We sold all of them at POL and got 65 meat chicks, then 125 Babcock babies, they are all just about gone, and now another 300 Amberlinks who are 10 weeks old, 150 6 week old turkeys and another 70 meat chicks coming at the end of the month!

so all in all, they keep me pretty busy with the garden, 3 greenhouses and a polytunnel too!  So I don't get much housework done anymore!!!!