Beak Injury

[amildiaz]

My ameraucana was injured by a fox today. Her upper beak is partially detached and its really difficult for me to make a detailed observation cause she's always keeping the injured side facing away from me. I don't know beak anatomy and I can't tell if it it's the whole upper beak or like an outer layer. A friend mentioned super glue.

This bird is so skiddish and afraid of me so I don't want to handle her until I have a game plan. It was getting close to sundown and I wasn't able to observe her eating or drinking. I'm not sure if she can but I will find out tomorrow. Any advice would be much appreciated!!

 

[alinas2010]

Oh no poor baby. I’m sorry this happened. It is unfortunate that she is skittish because she will need to be handled so you can check her over really well for wounds besides just her beak. How it is injured will somewhat determine how to proceed. Initially, I would rinse the injured part off with some saline. Hopefully it is just the top layer and we can come up with a plan to help stabilize it. Making her a watery, mushy feed will help her eat more comfortably as her beak heals. This link may help if you’re looking at an injury to the top layer:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/broken-open-beak.1337516/#post-21876931

Beaks have a lot of nerves and are very sensitive, so I’d imagine either way she is in a lot of pain and that is why she isn’t eating or drinking. If the damage is worse than just a layer or so, we will need to call on some more experienced folks, but you may be looking at tube feeding her.

She may be even more skittish right now after the attack, but it’s important that you get ahold of her to look her over after the attack. I recommend wrapping a towel around her body/wings in order to restrain her so you can look her over. Do not do this too tightly. Trying to pull her off the roost at roosting time to do this may work best since they don’t have good eyesight in the dark.

Let us know what you find when you get her looked over. Look very carefully under all her feathers and under her wings for wounds, bruising, puncture marks, etc.

 

[amildiaz]

here are some better photos

 

[alinas2010]

It’s tough to tell what is attached from the pictures. It looks attached fully on the one side, but the other side I can’t tell if it’s just the keratin layer of the beak or if it’s the full beak/tissue underneath detached. Can you see tissue underneath the detached part? Is it cracked down the middle sort of?

 

[alinas2010]

Tagging some others for help/suggestions and assessment. @Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Looks like it may be the outer keratin that is torn, it's hard to tell.

If you wish to work on that at all, wait until she's roosting, then grab her. Swaddle her in a towel and capture the wings, then she will be easier to handle. I would only trim the small hanging piece so hopefully she doesn't snag it on something. You can put a little ointment or vitamin E oil on the beak if you wish.

Once you have her, you'll be better able to see the extent of the damage. If it's just the outer layer, that will most likely at some point come loose and slough off on its own as she heals up.
Very often less is more when it comes to beak injuries. The injury is already dried up and healing, personally, I wouldn't attempt to glue anything.

She was attacked by a Fox = are there any other injuries? If you are unsure, then it would be a very good idea to look her over thoroughly for any abrasions or puncture wounds that may need to be treated as well.

Once you've accessed her and if needed treated her, I'd put her back with her flock and observe to see if she's eating/drinking. Provide a dish of wet soupy feed this will be easier to eat since likely the beak if very sore.