hi all,

 

I have a hen who has 2 babies that hatched 1 & 3 October. I noticed early on with one there was a small hairline crack/split in their lower beak. I kept an eye on it when I checked them each day and have always checked the upper mandable for dried food.

 

Today I checked on them and this little one had a couple specks of blood on their face and it looks like the crack has opened up a little - like barely even a mm.

 

I haven't experienced this before with any of the clutches from this hen last year or my other hen so I'm not sure how serious this is or will become. Is there anything I need to be more concerned about like the split opening more? Or with age will the beak harden and the baby be okay to crack seed? Has anyone else experienced this and what was their outcome?

 

Thanks.

It's a bit hard to tell what problem may be. Can you get a picture of it? I had an older bird who's lower beak somehow became detached and I didn't notice anything until it died, on checking I think poor thing starved because of it. I don't know what happened it must have got caught somehow I think. Are you sure crack is in beak itself? Maybe parents are a bit over-enthusiastic with feeding.

this was the clearest I could get as he was quite fidgety. You can see the split that started as a hairline one a couple weeks ago and there looks to be a small piece missing at the top of that bottom beak, there has been a bit of food getting stuck in the bottom the last few days and the baby gets upset when I go to clean it out.

 

on a sad note this little ones sibling has disappeared from my aviary, came home from work yesterday and went to check on them and the baby above was the only one in the box. I have no idea where or how it got it, the wiring on the cage is quite small and the baby was near fledgling. There are no signs of blood or pest activity or even excessive amounts of feathers.

Hi Re the beak problem. Clean it out & apply just a dab of SUPER GLUE & hold it closed till it sets.

Don't worry about hurting the baby he would scream weather you were hurting him or not...B.J.