Broken beak and other "problems"

[Jakenhoss]

Quote:
It took about a week to grow back, but then he stuck his beak in the fence again and broke it off again. He has done this twice now. It has finally grown back, hopefully it is the last time. His beak was broke completely off. He had a hard time eating and drinking but other than that he was alright.
AS far as watering, when my RR had her stroke, I used a needless syringe and just drizzled the water on the side of her beak. After awhile she was opening her beak a little bit to get the water. I would try to keep her quiet and warm today while your at work. Maybe you have a cat or dog kennel to put her in with a blanket?
Keeps us posted on her condition.

 

[Leo1]

I do have a carrier, the problem is keeping my cats away.Maybe she'll be Ok in the downstairs without me once it's dark. I brought her home crickets and she scarfed those down and ate about a 1/2 cup of cottage cheese. Won't go near her actual food though.

 

[Jakenhoss]

Quote:
She will have a problem eating hard food for awhile. My guy tried to eat his crumbles, but it wasn't easy for him. Like I said before, the top of his beak was broke completely off. I would keep her on soft foods for awhile, or even try making a mash out of her food. Mine like it when I add a little bit of water to it. For some reason they like it when it's all mushy. Cottage cheese is good for her. You might get some unflavored fat free yogurt to see if she'll eat that. Some reason it helps during stressful times, plus it's very healthy for her.
Do you have another room where you can close the door to keep your cats from traumatizing / terrorizing her more? Sounds like your doing the right things for her. Just make sure she stays warm and calm. I'm sure she'll be feeling much better by tomorrow. I'll check in the morning to see how she held through the night and see how she is.

 

[Leo1]

SHe seems to be doing about 80% better today. I tried keeping her inside last night, but at bedtime she said very clearly she wanted to be on her own roost with her friends. So I stuck a heater in the coop to keep her warm. A straw and dust friendly one of course She's eating mash today which is an improvement. I would like to see her eating more than she is, but anything is good. I can definitely see that her beak is still bothering her and she's not her usual self, but much closer to it. I tried yogurt too and for some crazy reason she didn't want it, but was very excited when I offered her the cottage cheese. Mine go crazy over the mushy food too; seems to be pretty universal from what I've heard. So will her beak grow out like a finger nail or does it build up from the pallet area?
Thanks for the help/support! I'm relatively new to the chicken thing. I raised these guys from day old; they're about 4.5 months now. Every day's a new adventure and they stole my heart the second I took the box from the post office (didn't even have to open it up). This group has been so much help. It seems we are pretty much on our own when it comes to caring for chickens. It's great that we have a space where we can rely on each other!!!!!

 

[Jakenhoss]

Quote:
The beak will grow back in just a couple of days. It will look like nothing happened to it. Hopefully it won't happen again. Like I said, mine broke his twice within just a coup[le of days apart. It seemed as if the first time had just healed and he broke it again.

I am rally glad she is doing much better.

Each day she should improve a little more. If it's cottage cheese she wants, I would give her all she can eat.

 

[Frithest]

Have you been following "Car vs Rooster!!! Can he be saved???" in this forum? Her rooster's beak was really badly broken and she mended it with super glue and a tea bag (the fabric part). It's a long post but the beak mending is in the early days of it.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=592958
Hope this helps! Good luck.

 

[Jakenhoss]

Quote:
Yes, I just read about 7 page of it. How terrible. My Buffy's beak was nowhere near that bad. He did loose the top portion, twice, but has healed up almost all the way. I'll try to get a pic and show you, however it's starting to get dark so I might have to wait till morn.
That was one "LUCKY" roo.

 

[Jakenhoss]

Quote:
I was able to take a few pics of my guy after his beak healed. hopefully I am uploading correctly so you can see them.

Where the light color is, is where he broke it off at.

Sorry this on didn't turn out as well, but you can get the jest of it.

He has done this twice now. He tries to get the other chickens on the other side of the hardware cloth. I am thinking of changing the fencing to chicken wire so he will stop breaking/damaging his beak.

How is your girl doing? Hopefully she is starting to heal up.

 

[Leo1]

She's back to normal Emotionally anyway. The broken part fell off and it looks like it healed over underneath, but is going to remain short. She doesn't seem to be having any trouble eating at this point (she's back to eating her pellets), so I'm not too worried if it doesn't grow back. She does have a bit of an under bite. I'm wondering if she broke it too close to the end for it to grow back in. As long as she's healthy and happy, I'm happy!
Wow, you really can hardly tell he did anything to it. Good luck with him; fingers crossed he's learned his lesson.

 

[Jakenhoss]

Quote:
I really glad she is doing better. I think it will still grow back completely. It will just take time because of the amount of damage and it was cracked up high.
Mine act as if nothing ever happened to him. If I can just keep him out of the hardware cloth he will stop breaking it. I am working with him to train him to stop it. He is pretty smart. He already knows what the word "NO" means, "time for bed" or "go to bed" and also "leave her alone". I didn't know chickens could actually learn to understand language.