Broken End of Beak - Warning: Pics included

[Birdo]

Our wyandotte, Birdo, tried pecking at a fox through the coop wire and ended up breaking her beak this morning. I didn't see it happen, so I'm not sure how she did it. It's broken right at the tip, and I think might be cracked all the way up. I rinsed it with saline. The bleeding has stopped. She is eating fine, and still lightly pecking at the other birds (tiny bit of a bully) so that makes me hopeful. Not sure what else we should do for her. We tried gently easing the broken tip back into place, but didn't have any luck, and this clearly hurt her. We're mixing a yogurt and food mash for her to make eating easier. Because we didn't have any luck easing the piece back into place, I don't think we can really try patching her up with super glue or acrylic. Has anyone seen this injury? Is she going to be ok?

 

[Birdo]

Birdo is looking a little better. That tip is almost all the way off now. She is still eating and acting normal. I'm going to rinse it with saline again to try and keep it clean. Any other first aid advice? Can I put a small amount of triple antibiotic ointment on it to try to keep it clean?

 

[Aeropennchick]

I think once it falls off, you might want to try and put some sort of antiseptic sealant on it, if the root is exposed, so it doesn't keep bleeding intermittently.
The beaks continuously grow like their nails, and it should grow back normally - doesn't look a very large portion of the beak. I saw another thread where they did use a sort of putty to reattach it, but the bird kept scratching it off and re-bleeding. They kept the bird in their house until it was healed so the other chickens didn't bother her.

I have this little bottle of stuff called New Skin antiseptic liquid bandage that I put on my dogs nails if I accidentally cut them too short. Maybe something like that? I'm not sure about superglue, if it would be toxic or not if Birdo ended up eating some

 

[Birdo]

That fingernail-like shell of the tip has fallen off now. Couple new pics. I'm about to do another saline rinse. Think I'm going to go ahead and dab some antibiotic ointment on it. The good news is I don't actually think the rest of the beak is cracked at all - I think she was just bleeding a bit from right at the top of the beak by the comb.

 

[Birdo]

Nu-skin sounds like a great idea! Thanks, Aeropennchick!

 

[MyHappyChicks]

Use the new skin before you do the glue. If you goof up with the glue it will be in her mouth and then you have a whole new problem. Just clean it really good with water so that you can get a really good look at what you will need to do. If you do use the glue be really careful doing it. You might need to have someone hold her head and put something in her mouth to help hold the beak open till glue dries so as to make sure the mouth doesn't get glued shut. I say this as I had the same problem years ago and actually glued one of my birds mouths shut. Took forever to catch her and really hard to open it.

 

[Aeropennchick]

Use the new skin before you do the glue. If you goof up with the glue it will be in her mouth and then you have a whole new problem. Just clean it really good with water so that you can get a really good look at what you will need to do. If you do use the glue be really careful doing it. You might need to have someone hold her head and put something in her mouth to help hold the beak open till glue dries so as to make sure the mouth doesn't get glued shut. I say this as I had the same problem years ago and actually glued one of my birds mouths shut. Took forever to catch her and really hard to open it.

Sorry but this made me laugh! Sounds like something my brother-in-law would do - he is reckless with super glue! He once went to the emergency room because he was gluing something under a table, and was too lazy to flip the table over to work on it. A drop of super glue ended up in his eye!

 

[KimKimWilliamso]

Ive seen this sort of thing with Parrots, but never chickens. But I imagine the same treatment would suffice. When people come into our clinic with shattered parrot beaks, and they cant afford the insanely pricey surgery a specialist would do for a beak, we just put on liquid tissue bandage. I think thats what the people above are talking about, except that I have never had a beak glued shut by this.....it is usually fast drying, totally safe to ingest if it happens. it will prevent water and bacteria from getting in the area while the beak re-grows. Human or animal grade is the same.

 

[MyHappyChicks]

Well now you know why I chose my screen pic. That is what I feel like sometimes. But better to trythan to just set back and watch the world go by.

Sorry but this made me laugh! Sounds like something my brother-in-law would do - he is reckless with super glue! He once went to the emergency room because he was gluing something under a table, and was too lazy to flip the table over to work on it. A drop of super glue ended up in his eye!

 

[Aeropennchick]

But better to trythan to just set back and watch the world go by.

100% agree