Broken Beak- Hardware Cloth

[Shezadandy]

Our broody hen had a run in with some hardware cloth. She ripped off the left side of her beak starting right from the nostril.

I should have photographed it before I trimmed off the part by her nostril that pulled away, but unfortunately I didn't. It's cleaner now than shown in the picture.

It's fairly fresh. The beak "nail" is definitely loose, and there's some blood, but it didn't bleed badly. I've cleaned up the edges just a little more than shown in the photo above to try and avoid having it catch on things.

So far I've flushed it (and flushed it and flushed it) with Vetericyn, rinsed out her mouth with water using a small syringe, gave her some water via syringe, then put a small amount of Neosporin over it.

She's sitting on eggs that are due to hatch in the next 5-6 days, so she's already not out pecking around or eating and drinking a whole lot, though she has clean water and food available 24/7-- hoping this will help the healing process.

If it comes down to it, I'm completely comfortable tube feeding her if that's what she needs.

Is there anything else I should do for her? I'm hesitant to do the tea bag/super glue because of the bleeding under the beak- I don't want to seal in an infection, but I'm open to suggestion.

Thanks!!

 

[sourland]

If she has problems eating, try moistening her feed to see if that helps.

 

[Shezadandy]

If she has problems eating, try moistening her feed to see if that helps.

Thank you! It's a little tough to catch her eating right now (a very serious broody hen), but I will offer her both moistened food and her regular fare so she can choose what's easiest.

 

[Eggcessive]

Chopped or cooked egg is also good to feed. I hope she gets along okay.

 

[happyhens1972]

Chopped or cooked egg is also good to feed. I hope she gets along okay.

I was going to suggest the same....scrambled egg is great booster food for broodies anyway and will definitely be easier on her beak x

 

[Ohmyheart]

One of mine did something similar to her beak. We actually crazy glued it so it wouldn't get caught on anything. But hers wasn't bleeding. That only last a few days before it shed itself off.

Do you see any active bleeding? I'm going to guess once the bleeding stops and starts to heal up it's going to dry up and fall off with a nice new beak underneath.

 

[Shezadandy]

I know nail and beak bleeds can go on and on but this one wasn't too bad- the bleeding stopped pretty quickly. By the time I syringed her mouth to clear it of blood (so I could tell if there was more bleeding), it had stopped. There may have been a fresh drop or two during the flushes, but at the end it was just clear Vetericyn dripping onto the paper towel. There's no evidence of any more bleeding. The glossy bit on the beady-eyed broody pictures below is the neosporin I applied after the Vetericyn flushes. Later I will pull her off to reapply.

The good news is it will be a few days before she's out and about pecking since she's waiting for those first "peep peep peep"s from her eggs. Hopefully we get lucky like Ohmyheart's hen and she grows a new one and sheds this part. Unless it's hanging off, showing new bleeding, or obviously infected, I plan to leave the shell in place and continue treating it.

I'll offer her some scrambled egg too! Thanks for that suggestion! And I've got the Exact powder mix along with some poultridrench etc and puppy feeding tubes and syringes if she needs additional nutritional support while it heals if she won't eat.