Broken Beak, Blood and What Should I Do??

[Thomas423]

When I went into the coop at bedtime I saw that one of the 5 1/2 month old hens had blood all over her beak and another hen pecked at her while I was standing there looking around. I picked her up and carried her into the house to try and clean it off and have a good look. It appears that the top of her top beak has chipped off.

I put her in a dog kennel in the bathroom. I fed her some bread and she picked at it and ate about 1/2 a slice (broken in small pieces). She did not drink any water but it was bedtime anyway so I dimmed the light to let her sleep. I'll make sure she is eating and drinking in the morning. I plan on giving her some hard boiled egg and also crush up her food at first. If she does okay with that, I'll try her normal crumbles/pellets.

Questions:
Do beaks bleed and if not, where might the blood have come from?
Does it hurt her?????????
What, if anything, should I put on it to help it heal?
Is there anything else I should be doing?

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

I had a rooster tear his beak trying to get at another rooster through the hardware cloth. It looked horrible at first! Thankfully, he is totally fine today. His beak looks a little rough, but he has no trouble eating and drinking.
I didn't do anything but watch him for a day or so. He was fine with no help from me. You might keep your girl inside until you know the others will leave her alone. Other than that, I don't have answers to your questions. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable will chime in?

 

[redhen]

YEs, beaks bleed. They can actually bleed VERY badly if they break far enough down. I had to call a vet once when my parrot was bleeding very badly from a chipped beak..
Yes, it does hurt her, very much so. Their beaks are full of nerves...kinda like our fingers.. Not so much on the very tip of the beak though.
Feed her soft foods for a little while.. it will make eating easier on her..
Good luck!

 

[silkiechicken]

Yep, it will grow back. Soft stuff would be good in the mean time for it to heal, it would be like chipping off your nail half way up into the part that is attached to your finger. The blood is from the quick covering the bone that is in the beak, the beak part on the outside is like our nail.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

See? Smart people did chime in!