9 week old with cracked beak -- UPDATE All Healed :)

[Airilith]

Ok I need some help.

I have a BR female (?) that's 9 weeks old. This morning I went out to the coop to find her with some blood on her beak. I thought she had just scratched herself again, but I was wrong. She managed to crack her beak. The crack is on the top half of her beak, and is right between the part you would trim and the part you can't. The bleeding stopped, and I've seen her eat and drink. So it's not causing her any kind of pain.

But is there something I can do to prevent it from cracking further? Is there something I can do to 'make' it heal (as I believe that beaks don't techinally heal)?

Thanks so much!

 

[Imp]

Here's a thread about a similiar injury. Maybe it will help
Good luck

Imp

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=258369&p=1

 

[jeslewmazer]

It should be ok. I had a little game stag that spit his top beak almost completely but it did not separate. He lived a good normal chicken life. Just don't but presser on it, and just make sure it stay pretty clean.

 

[Airilith]

Thanks for the link Imp. Thank goodness this beak crack isn't nearly as bad as that one. I don't know what I'd do in that situation.

Jes, thanks for sharing your previous experience! Did you put anything on the crack initially? I'm wondering if super glue would help keep her from cracking it further, but I don't know if the beak is the safest place for it. Wouldn't want her mouth accidentally glued shut.

 

[hencackle]

Several years ago, my oldest rooster, Rupert, injured his beak to the point that the entire top layer peeled off. I applied a tiny drop of superglue and started to position the top layer in place...the fumes started irritating the rooster. He started "flashing" the nictitating membranes of his eyes (aka 3rd eyelids) and shaking his head, so I didn't get the top layer attached. He was freaking out! And there I was, blowing in his face to dispel the superglue fumes and apologizing profusely! Needless to say, Rupert looked very odd for a while.

His beak grew out fine without any other help on my part and you can't even tell that he ever injured his beak.

 

[Airilith]

Thanks so much for telling me that Hen!!! It makes me feel so much better.

I have isolated her, with a silkie friend, for hopefully only tonight. She managed to increase the size of the crack again, which caused it to bleed again as well. Also I use rabbit bottle waterers, and it seems with the larger crack she's now having trouble with them. The isolation kennel has a bowl waterer, so it works out great for her. She's not acting upset or like she's in terrible pain. But I can tell it must hurt as with the new crack the top tip (inside her mouth) is swollen from the trauma. So I'm hoping that some time with a smaller friend will give both her and her beak some downtime to heal.

I'm heading out to give the two of them some scrabbled egg now. I'll keep y'all updated!

 

[Airilith]

So putting her, and friend, in the isolation kennel worked wonders. Yesterday afternoon I could wiggle the broken part of the beak easily. But this morning it seems to have healed quite a bit. Not only can I not wiggle it anymore, the swelling inside her mouth has also gone down.

My plan now is to keep her in there for one more night. I did let her, and friend of course, run around outside with the others today. And she seems happy as can be to be back with her friends. I just want to ensure that her beak gets plently of extra help healing.

 

[Airilith]

Ok I need some further suggestions with this one. Two days ago she ended up chipping the cracked part of her beak off. It's not very much, just mostly the tip of the top half. I kept her seperated from the others, minus one silkie friend. i gave her nice deep food and water bowls to lower the impact her beak would have to take.

She seems to be doing fine. She's eating and drinking, and for the time I've let her out with her friends she played like normal.

But where the beak cracked you can see her solf pallet (I assume). It stopped bleeding almost immediately after she broke it off. And the swelling was pretty much gone by the next morning.

What should I be doing? I broke down and put her back with the flock tonight, as she's eating and drinking, and the break had clotted. Do I need to trim the bottom beak to be even with the top? If so, how? I don't have a dremel, or a hot plate (what I used to use at work). I do have one of the sander things for dog nails. Should I be putting something on the top beak (where the break is)?

Thanks guys! I truly appreciate all of your help!

 

[Airilith]

Well I just wanted to update this thread, just in case someone else runs into this same issue.

First off it's been voted that the questionable hen is a rooster, who we've named Kirk. Haha.

I kept Kirk seperated until his beak had no open wound on it. It took about two days after the final break for that to happen. It only bled for a little while, but the exposed soft pallet had me concerned. I did not put anything on the beak, just let it heal naturally. My DBF made a feed and water stand that held fairly deep tuberware bowls for him, which allowed his to get feed/water without having his beak touch metal/plastic/etc. I think that helped a whole lot.

After Kirk got put back out in the coop I moved the new feed/water stand out there with him. It took alot more work to keep fresh water in there, as they dirtied it up quickly. But after about a week he was using my regular rabbit waterers normally again. And the normal feeder has posed no problems for him either.

He's now 13 weeks, so it's been 4 weeks since the first crack. His beak has indeed grown almost completely back. The top half (which is the part that broke) is still a little bit shorter than bottom half, but only by a hair. Here's a picture to show what I'm talking about:

I'm very happy with how it's healed.

So if anyone else runs into this problem, there is hope! Seperate until the trauma is under control, and make sure that feeders/waterers are not harming the healing process.

If anyone has any questions please let me know.

 

[hencackle]

Awesome! Kirk's beak is healing very nicely and I can see the tip that is still bare...it won't be much longer.

Handsome BR.