Chicken beak injury-- does it need medical attention?

[cmlew99]

Hello,

I just noticed that my chicken, Mary, has a broken off beak. It's grayer than normal, and almost skewed to one side. I can see a clear breakage, hopefully you can tell in the below pictures. How do I treat something like this? Should I contact my vet? Is she going to be okay? I tried feeding her food, and she wanted it but picked up each piece gingerly, as if it hurt (which I'm sure it does). I have one of those "chicken-nipple" waterers, and I can't imagine that feels good to drink out of either (since it requires the birds to peck at a piece of metal). Should I separate her?

I'd be grateful for any advice or anecdotes, I'm really upset about this-- she's my favorite girl

 

[Colonel-Sanders]

Hello! you could try and put some neosporin on the break to help, but that obviously won't help her much with the pain right now. (Probably also wouldn't taste good)

I would definitely get some sort of bowl of water rather than one of those water droppers at least for the time being. Personally, I would take her to the vet.



Hope this helps!

 

[cmlew99]

Thank you for your reply! I'll call the vet first thing in the morning, hopefully they'll have an appointment available.

 

[Colonel-Sanders]

Thank you for your reply! I'll call the vet first thing in the morning, hopefully they'll have an appointment available.

No problem! Friendly advice is what BYC is all about!

I will be hoping that your beautifully colored chicken heals completely in record time!

Also, even if the vet doesn't have an appointment available right away, as long as she's eating and drinking enough you could afford to wait a day or so.

 

[Beekissed]

I can't really see the break in those pics but if you have some Super Glue, I'd put some on the break and hold it in place until it glues. This will minimize movement of the break, which is the most likely cause of any pain she'll have from it. It's likely what your vet will tell you to do also. There's really not much else one can do with a broken beak except cull the bird.

 

[Colonel-Sanders]

I can't really see the break in those pics but if you have some Super Glue, I'd put some on the break and hold it in place until it glues. This will minimize movement of the break, which is the most likely cause of any pain she'll have from it. It's likely what your vet will tell you to do also. There's really not much else one can do with a broken beak except cull the bird.

The break is easiest to see in the final picture. The tip of the beak (from the chickens perspective) is broken and angled towards the left.

 

[cmlew99]

I took her to a vet this afternoon. She didn't want to superglue it, since the crack was so close to the mouth opening (didn't want to risk her getting any toxins). She basically said that since it wasn't wiggling, and was still relatively firmly rooted to leave it be and just be really careful with her (I guess the major concern is a corner of the break getting caught on something, and having the break widen and start bleeding/swelling. I'm going back in five days to get it filed down (to prevent it getting caught). Until then, I'm switching the waterer, giving her warm pellet mash for breakfast/lunch/dinner and hoping she doesn't damage herself between now and then! @Beekissed @Colonel-Sanders