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.

 

[amildiaz]

Thank you all so much for the replies. I was able to clip off the portion that seemed most likely to snag. The beak is cracked a bit in the middle as well. I don't see any other injuries. I sprayed the beak area with vetericyn. She pecked a bit a her mushy food, but I haven't seen her eat a substantial amount. I'm still not exactly sure if the injury is confined to the keratin layer - there's a lot of dried blood underneath it. Here are some additional photos.

 

[alinas2010]

You did a good job trimming it. I think there is probably a lot of raw, perhaps injured soft tissue under the keratin, and that’s all the blood you’re seeing. Hopefully no damage was done deeper than the tissue right under that keratin layer, such as down to the bone. You can see the structural outline of the beak is in tact still on top to a certain length (not sure how far that is supposed to go, but I don’t think it goes to the tip of the beak) so that’s good. I hope that isn’t bone, though @Wyorp Rock :

Hard to say what parts of the keratin, if any, remain attached to the tissue underneath.

I think you will have a lot of supportive care and kind of “watch and see” on your hands with her. I’m sorry there isn’t a more definitive answer, but @Wyorp Rock has the best advice.

Hopefully as the injury heals, the old beak will dry up and fall off like a fingernail that has been lifted too far. It will take a few weeks, but (depending on how deep the damage is) she should start to grow new beak to replace what is detached and that should help push off anything not attached.

If it were me, I too would watch her closely to see that she is eating and drinking well. Mix warm water into her chicken feed to make a warm, soupy mash and serve in a deep, large bowl. This should allow her to use her bottom beak to scoop up some of the feed and she will hopefully get some hydration that way, also.

She is lucky that was her only injury if she met a fox!