Hi Everyone. The photos seem to show a deformed beak vs. injury. This weekend, I guess we'll try to file it down but I'm not to hopeful. Will weigh her and watch!
Misfit's deformed beak
How did the filing go? Bless her little heart. I hope she's OK.
Hi Brigidlily,
Well, I wasn't sure how much could be filed so was afraid to try until I heard from some folks on how to do it. She seems to be doing well. Still struts all around all day long like nothing is amiss. Prob bothers me more than her but will keep an eye on weight. Thanks for writing :)
Isn't it amazing how animals don't know they're handicapped? They say starfish re-grow their arms because they don't know they can't.
Keep us updated.
Neat. Didn't know that about starfish. Got any ideas on how much to file down, and top or bottom or both????
Now, I don't know the answers, but it seems to me that the bottom of the beak would be more important than the top, since she must "pick up" her food. If you watch her eat, perhaps that will be more guidance than any words I can come up with. Good luck. BAM
Thanks BamBam, I occassionally go out an hand feed her from a deep pan and keep the others away so she can have her fill uninterrupted. Yesterday, she laid her first green egg. Our 7 yr old was sooo excited, he shouted it out and all the neighbors heard I'm sure. :) We've been pretty swamped with school starting and all. Haven't had a chance to file it but I think your idea is a good one. You mean file the top one down right???
Your bird has "cross beak" which is a genetic fault.
I wouldn't use this bird for breeding purposes.
Ok, thanks Cottage_Rose. She won't be bred. No roosters and even if I did get one, I wouldn't want to pass this on.
i have one too, and her eggs are light colored in the yolk. i won't be breeding leghorns anyhow... we call her "Beaker", she is quite sweet, and eats separate from the other, get a bite for every five attempts...
nowrot, glad to see you are pampering yours too...
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NowRot, how's she doing? Did you ever file the beak, or is she eating OK as is?
Hi everyone,
Well, I clipped the tip of the beaks. Wasn't sure how much to clip off. We will probably work on her again this week. We need a larger file. We still feed her in a seperate deeper pan, in addition to the regular feeder and that seems to satisfy her. She still pecks at the ground and seems ok. Of course, I don't think she gets any of it. She still lays the green eggs and haven't noticed a difference of the yolk color yet. Thanks for asking.
god idea oin the deep feeder. the problem with my girl Beaker seems to be thin shelled eggs. they don't make it past the washing/drying stage without me crushing them. i am hoping she will find a good home with some nice folks that won the cockerel we raffled off on Saturday. keep us posted on misfit!
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