Broken Beak with Blood!! (with pictures)

[socalchickens76]

Hello,

This evening we came home to one of our chickens with a bloody, broken beak. We were gone for a few hours in the evening, came home, kids went to check on the chickens in their coop and noticed our Buff Orpington's beak was bloody and broken at the nostrils. We have no idea at all how this happened. In fact, four of other chickens have nicks on their beaks as well (we have a total of six in our flock and they are around 20 weeks old). We are first time chicken owners and have had them since July. We have no idea what to do. We ran to the pet store to grab some antiseptic and a pet crate to keep her in the house for the night. She's not eating or drinking but it is past her bedtime and she's likely in pain. I've looked at other broken beak threads and it seems like she has a good chance to heal from this but not totally sure. We are all worried and need some advice.

Should I take her to the vet tomorrow? What are the chances of her healing from this? Is there anything else we can do to help her?

Thank you all so much!

 

[sourland]

Provide moistened feed in a deep dish to assure that she is able to eat. I'd also be tempted to glue the beak (carefully) with Crazy Glue.

 

[Eggcessive]

I agree with Sourland and here is a good link to read about beak injuries and care:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/repairing-chickens-broken-beak/

 

[Jilly1425]

Hi @socalchickens76 -

How is your chicken doing? Any regrowth of the beak?

I am dealing with a similar situation for one of my silkies now

Thanks,
Jillian

 

[socalchickens76]

Hi Jilly1425,

I am happy to report that she is all better! The very next morning the other chickens picked off the outer layer of her beak that was hanging on (eeek) so we took her to the vet later that day. They put her under and cleaned off all of the blood. They sent us home with antibiotics, pain medicine and an antibiotic cream to put on her beak. We kept her in the house for a few more nights to minimize any more pecking by the other chickens. Her beak started to heal pretty quickly. She is now eating and drinking normally again

We probably didn't need to take her to the vet (it was not a cheap visit) but being new chicken owners we didn't know what else to do. Now that we have a little bit more experience and pain meds, we probably would just deal with it ourselves if it happens again. I also purchased some blue medicated lotion from our feed store that I would use next time to cover up any blood. The pecking by the other chickens was the biggest issue we had to deal with.

How is your silkie doing?

 

[Jilly1425]

Oh - that’s great to hear that she is doing well! It sounds like even though the beak was cracked, she still had a fleshy portion that remained attached?

If that’s the case. I’m not sure if my silkie’s situation is 100% comparable. My silkie lost her entire upper beak pretty much to her nostrils - no flesh left. She is doing ok for now with being fed with a syringe, but I am hoping there will be some improvement in her beak growth combined with some relearning on her part as to how to get enough nutrients eating on her own.

Thanks for your reply and I’ve added a photo of my girl’s beak for comparison if you think it was close to how your girl’s beak look after the outer later was removed.

 

[socalchickens76]

Oh poor thing! My girl's upper beak was intact, it was just the top layer that ripped off. She didn't eat a lot for a several days afterwards because of the pain but eventually she started eating normally again. Everyone says they grow back so hopefully your girl's beak will grow all the way back (which I think it should). Like you said, I believe if you keep up the syringe feeding while her beak grows back she will be ok.

 

[Jilly1425]

@

Oh poor thing! My girl's upper beak was intact, it was just the top layer that ripped off. She didn't eat a lot for a several days afterwards because of the pain but eventually she started eating normally again. Everyone says they grow back so hopefully your girl's beak will grow all the way back (which I think it should). Like you said, I believe if you keep up the syringe feeding while her beak grows back she will be ok.

I so appreciate the optimism and encouragement It can be so hard to see them in pain! It also seems like while this isn’t a super uncommon injury - there are a lot of varying degrees of severity, and not a lot of content on it! Surprisingly, I’ve only found a handful on BYC.

 

[ackie]

Oh - that’s great to hear that she is doing well! It sounds like even though the beak was cracked, she still had a fleshy portion that remained attached?

If that’s the case. I’m not sure if my silkie’s situation is 100% comparable. My silkie lost her entire upper beak pretty much to her nostrils - no flesh left. She is doing ok for now with being fed with a syringe, but I am hoping there will be some improvement in her beak growth combined with some relearning on her part as to how to get enough nutrients eating on her own.

Thanks for your reply and I’ve added a photo of my girl’s beak for comparison if you think it was close to how your girl’s beak look after the outer later was removed.

Oh poor baby! Is there an open wound? It doesnt look like it but obviously there was flesh there at some point, so maybe I'm just not seeing it correctly.

 

[ackie]

It took my guy about 10 days to learn to eat with this beak. The bottom is longer than the top, but nothing compared to your silkie obviously. Scrambled eggs were what finally pushed him to eat. Otherwise I'd been hand feeding him, which was actually easy because the longer bottom mandible made opening his mouth super simple.