Broken beak? The upper hard layer is not attached

[coach723]

Electrolites would be good, alternate with plain, fresh water. Try offering some cooked chopped or scrambled egg, or a bit of canned tuna, see if those will tempt her.

 

[Naisha]

Update: she still refuses to eat at all. We didn’t tube feed her because, well, we don’t have any tube and I’d be too afraid of sticking the tube in the trachea instead of the right place. So we’ve started feeding her with a syringe, made a mix with water, honey, sugar and egg and it’s pretty liquid. so we open her beak, only touching the bottom part, which makes it a bit tricky, and pour some drops, so she drinks. It takes time, it’s slow. But at least this way she’s getting some food. The beak looks the same as the previous picture I posted, so I’ll wait some more days to post a picture (all that, if she survives, I hope so). I think it can be interesting for others to follow the whole process.

 

[Naisha]

Update: after 5 days, she’s eating on her own!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Glad she's eating on her own finally!! I'm surprised it took her so long based on my experience with a similar break! Just trying to keep you on your toes, I guess.


For the record, tube feeding is scary at first, but such a useful skill to have if you raise chickens as pets, and much safer and easier than trying to drip or squirt food and water into the beak. It's pretty hard to go down the trachea, mostly because the bird will NOT like that and fight back so hard, and plus you can see the tube going down their neck if you're going the right direction and feel it in the crop so you can be confident that it's in the right spot before you put any food or water through the tube. I do genuinely understand being afraid to do it, though! It took me many years and a very beloved hen starving herself to finally get the nerve to do it. It's not something I have to do often, thankfully, but I'm glad I know how to do it when I need to.

 

[coach723]

Yay!! So glad she's eating on her own now, hopefully well on her way to recovering now!

 

[SmiYa0126]

Oh my gosh, chickens are so risilient!

I was going to comment to feed her raw egg yolk.

 

[Naisha]

She’s getting better and now the problem is she’s broody and it’s so freaking hot that not even the broody jail helps. I’ll take a picture of her beak when I can. it still looks fragile, but I think she’ll be alright. It’s such a relief!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Aw, man, broodies and high heat! It's like these birds look for ways to put themselves in danger, isn't it? Glad to hear she's still doing all right, though, even if she's trying to slow-roast herself in the nests!

 

[Naisha]

Okayy I took pictures of her. She can eat without problems and her beak looks way better.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

She's so pretty! Glad to hear she's doing good!