Lagertho Longbeak

Lagertho is a very special chicken---as he was born with a deformity known as scissors (cross or crooked) beak. He is a 10-month-old Easter Egger mixed breed cockerel. His rescuer spotted him standing alone in the isolation pen, away from the other chicks at the hatchery. He had gone there to purchase some more chicks for his farm, when he noticed the little bird standing there on his own. When he inquired about why—the hatchery told him that the bird suffered from a beak deformity and would be willing to give the bird to him for free. So he went home that day with 6 ‘normal’ chicks and little Lagertho.


For the first several months of life, Lagertho was initially raised outside with his siblings for despite his deformity, he was able to eat and drink on his own. However, as his beak deformity began to worsen, he started to get picked on more and more by other flock members. He was also starting to have difficulty eating on his own. Due to these circumstances, his owner decided that the best thing for Lagertho would be for him to live inside as a house chicken.

Becoming a House Rooster

It didn’t take Lagertho very long to adapt to the lifestyle of a house rooster! He quickly because the boss of all the animals (including dogs and cats) who all have come to respect him, and with whom he shares a room with.


Lagertho has grown accustomed to wearing diapers since he now spends most of his time indoors---his human sews them himself! Even though Lagertho is an official house rooster, he is still provided plenty of access to the outdoors, where he hangs out with his new indoor animal friends, that don't pick on him.

A post shared by Lagertho (@lagertho.longbeak) on Apr 7, 2017 at 3:09pm PDT

As Lagertho has continued to grow, unfortunately his beak deformity has worsened---causing his jaw to become more crooked. As a result, Lagertho is now 100% hand fed twice a day and tube fed water. His feed consists of gamebird pellets and added Calf Manna once or twice a week. His human also clips and dremels back his beak once a week, in an effort to keep it as short as possible to lessen interference.