Broken Beak with Blood!! (with pictures)

[Docdetective]

I know it’s not exactly the same @Jilly1425 but I have a cross beak that has learned to scoop her food to eat it. I’m guessing your silkie would need mash, once it heals and doesn’t hurt as much of course! You’re doing a good job syringe feeding. To make sure she’s getting enough you can check her crop!
But from what I’ve heard beaks supposedly grow back, so it may grow back just fine.

 

[ackie]

Also keep an eye on her poop. Normal poop is a huge win. Is she drinking on her own yet? Try a deep bowl so she cant accidentally hit the bottom and my rooster preferred it elevated (I just put it on an upside down tupperware). If she can drink on her own but not eat, you could give her pedialyte in addition to your syringe feedings.

 

[Jilly1425]

Hi everyone - I had been trying to the deep dish method with mad and scramble the first couple days with no luck. I imagine it was still hurting her too much.

I have since moved her from the outside hospital area to my kitchen and while the deep dishes are still available; they aren’t elevated. I will try to elevate the dishes for her so she can start trying to eat when she’s in less pain. I may need to consider grinding some baby aspirin for the next feeding.

The crop feeding with syringe/tube is going well though. Her crop has felt full after each feeding the past 2 days and there is poop (yay, but smelly)! I hydrated with pedialyte first since she didn’t get much at all for the first 2 days and I’ve been mixing a small amount in with baby parrot food when I feed.

I was hand feeding some grubblies last night, but it felt like I was literally pushing them down her throat She seemed to like that a bit more than the tube feeding though

 

[Jilly1425]

@jwehl oh - and to answer the other question, there is no open wound. It looks like there is some scabbing, but difficult to tell the extent since she is dark and any dried blood is also dark.

I never saw blood myself, but I imagine that’s only because the injury occurred overnight and dried by the time I let her out in the morning

 

[ackie]

Tim ignored the mash for days. It was chick starter with pedialyte in a deep bowl that was really a deep bowl filled with a paper towel and topped with mash. But he was obviously hungry because he ate even the solid food that I put in his mouth greedily. I did not tube feed him. Just used a syringe for water in the beginning until he started drinking on his own & and used my fingers to put mash and later solid food in his mouth.

 

[Jilly1425]

Tim ignored the mash for days. It was chick starter with pedialyte in a deep bowl that was really a deep bowl filled with a paper towel and topped with mash. But he was obviously hungry because he ate even the solid food that I put in his mouth greedily. I did not tube feed him. Just used a syringe for water in the beginning until he started drinking on his own & and used my fingers to put mash and later solid food in his mouth.

We had some minor improvement today. She learned how to scoop some baby parrot mash mixed with pedialyte that was applied on her tongue with the syringe!

I’m thinking this is better or at least a more pleasant method than the tube/gavage feeding method. Also, it seems like a step toward potential adaptation to life without an upper beak! She had a full crop afterwards and even cleaned her own beak off in her deep water dish after I set her down in her area