Beak Injury

rosieabby

In the Brooder
Jun 12, 2018
22
19
31
Hi everyone,
Our poor girl seems to have nasty beak injury. She is a 5 month old Barred Rock. I noticed it when I was giving the ladies some scratch. She is one of 3. Obviously, it looked very painful for her to try to eat it. It's windy today so the ladies went back into their coop. I observed them for a while. She settled down behind the others and buried her head in her feather. I also noticed another lady try to peck at the injury:(
I sent the 2 healthy ones into the run and closed the door to keep the injured one inside. They are all squawking to be together and I can see the injured one isn't settling down.
Any advice?
Thanks.
 

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It just happened today. I've never clipped their beaks. It think she must have gotten it caught on something and it ripped off.
 
Well her beak has definitely been trimmed before. As for the injury, you should check for any bits of loose wire or metal on the coop. It is likely she got it caught somewhere.
 
Well her beak has definitely been trimmed before. As for the injury, you should check for any bits of loose wire or metal on the coop. It is likely she got it caught somewhere.
I will definitely check out coop for loose wire. We've had them since they were 3 day old chicks and we've never trimmed their beaks. Unless the hatchery trimmed them when they were first hatched?
 
I will definitely check out coop for loose wire. We've had them since they were 3 day old chicks and we've never trimmed their beaks. Unless the hatchery trimmed them when they were first hatched?

Yes, hatcheries will sometimes trim the chick's beaks to "prevent aggression." I hope she gets well soon! That beak will probably need some antibiotics or something; maybe someone on BYC can help you to find the right ones.
 
It just happened today. I've never clipped their beaks. It think she must have gotten it caught on something and it ripped off.
It should grow back rather quickly. I’ve had roosters get their beaks caught in fencing and just put neosporin on it
and feed him scrambled eggs. It took about a week before it was tough enough for him to pick up any grain at all.
 
Vetericyn will work wonders for her beak. Spray it well to clean it off and spray it 3 times a day. If no Vetericyn, clean it well and put Neosporin without pain relief on it several times a day. The biggest thing you can do for her is to water down her feed so it is really mushy. You must make sure she still eats. You will notice how apprehensive she will be trying to peck at things because it is extremely painful for her. She will need to be fed very mushy feed for about a week. Her beak is like a fingernail and will grow back quickly. However, her quick is exposed right now and it is extremely tender.

If ever the tip of the beak is torn yet still hanging on, you can use super glue gel and a strip of a tea bag, cut to fit the tear (without the tea of course.) For me, the super glue gel is the best since it doesn’t run everywhere. And it takes just a tad, placed on the strip of tea bag fabric (held with tweezers) and smoothed onto the beak across the break. I smooth it with a toothpick so my finger doesn’t wind up stuck to the beak. :eek: I say just a tad also because the glue is very strong smelling and you will be using it right at her nares. Smelling too much of it for too long could be very bad for her. I have had to do this numerous times.

Feeding her extra protein during this regrowth will be very beneficial.

If you see she’s being picked at, place her in a crate but still with the flock. If you are able, let her roost with them as long as you can put her back in the crate before they come off the roost.

Good luck with nursing her back to her ‘pecking prowess.’ :hugs
 
Hi everyone,
Our poor girl seems to have nasty beak injury. She is a 5 month old Barred Rock. I noticed it when I was giving the ladies some scratch. She is one of 3. Obviously, it looked very painful for her to try to eat it. It's windy today so the ladies went back into their coop. I observed them for a while. She settled down behind the others and buried her head in her feather. I also noticed another lady try to peck at the injury:(
I sent the 2 healthy ones into the run and closed the door to keep the injured one inside. They are all squawking to be together and I can see the injured one isn't settling down.
Any advice?
Thanks.
It looks fairly minor. I should harden up and heal in a couple of days.
I agree with offering her a wet mash to make it easier to eat instead of having to peck at feed at for the moment.
I would just wipe off the blood, but her back with the other and leave her be.

Likely she got it hung in a feeder or in wire fencing.

fwiw - doesn't look like the beak has been trimmed. Chicks from major hatcheries are not usually de-beaked, only started pullets that around a 24wks of age are de-beaked.
Some very good photos of what de-beaked started pullets look like https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/new-beak-trimmed-debeaked-hens.995006/
 

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