Cracked beak

[Devinbryant]

My little hen has a chip in her beak well almost a crack. It had to happen today. She has some blood on the top but the left side of the beak has a gouge in it. She’s already a picky eater and since I’ve let her out I don’t think she’s picked up anything. I’m going to make some mushy food for her with some feed and an egg and I’ll keep her inside tonight to monitor how much she’s eating but any other advise to help mend the injured beak?

 

[lbgreenfield]

Aw poor girl! I think you can try and repair her beak with some super glue, but I don’t have any experience with that. See if you can search other “cracked beak” cases in BYC to get some more help.

 

[nao57]

I haven't done this before, so feel free to overwrite my Chickencraft playing experience.

It would seem logical to try to repair the beak from the outside, not the inside, if you are using super glue first, due to the fact that its got a lot of chemical crap in it. (If that doesn't work you could re-evaluate this.)

Its also very possible that softer food for the next few days (with extra calcium?) may help make this easier to deal with, and less painful to 'chew'? What do you think?

If she's smaller than the other hens with her, that could be an issue with trying to get her healed up, that you may need to look at separately also.

 

[333113]

Since beaks are kind of like fingernails, I think it may be safest to go with the mushy diet you suggested and let it grow out.

If it broke back to the quick, it may be painful for her to use her mouth. My experience with broken beaks is that it takes a couple of weeks to grow out. You will want to watch to see if the broken part needs trimming back to avoid catching on something and opening up the break more.

I have never glued broken beaks but one of my friends used modeling clay (flour, water, salt) to fill a gap in her bird's beak after a raccoon attack. It got her bird eating again, and the beak eventually grew back.

 

[coach723]

Unless the beak is very unstable I would not glue it. If glue is needed you need to use the gel type of superglue rather than the liquid to avoid accidentally gluing something else, like the tongue. It will slowly grow out and be normal again eventually. Injuries like this often happen when they try to reach something on the other side of wire, or sometimes getting caught on feeders, running into something in a panic, or with roo's, fighting. It will be very sore for a few days, then she should start feeling better and getting back to normal. Moistened feed will help and be less painful for her, and raising up the dish or feeder also will make it easier.
Here is more info, for reference, on beak repairing, when necessary:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/repairing-chickens-broken-beak/

 

[Devinbryant]

Update. Judy girl is doing better but still picky about certain foods but she’s eating the chicken food mixed with water really well. I take a handful of pellets and barely cover them with water, pop them in the microwave for 8 seconds and poof...Mushy food that she’ll eat. Side note I am still keeping her in a separate pen at night and midday to watch her food intake and so the roo doesn’t get too rowdy with her. It’s interesting because she almost eats better when she’s loose outside with the other birds. So I put her food out of the roos reach and let her chow down. (Picture included)

I did file the crack with a nail file so it wouldn’t catch on anything and I have been cleaning the injury on her beak twice a day with Vetericyn and triple antibiotic. I tried to put the adhesive part of the bandaid over it but the space was too small and the crack on the beak made it uneven so it wouldn’t stick.