Cracked Beak

[Aleee44]

hello everyone,

Yesterday when putting our girls away (we only have a flock of 4) we noticed ‘Lady’ was acting different so when my husband grabbed her we were able to see this. It doesn’t seem to hurt when I lightly touched it. I did give her food to make sure she’s able to eat which she can. Do you know what can cause this? Did she have a fall or did one of the other girls hurt her? I’ve always had birds growing up (parrots, parakeets, love birds,etc) and I was always told a bird cannot survive without their beak. That being said (apologies if I sound stupid) is this some type of veal shedding? Is she going to lose her beak completely? Any suggestions would be helpful on caring for her or if you’ve experienced this.

TYIA

 

[MandS]

I have had this a few times but not as badly as this. It was painful for one of mine, but the break was near the end and it bled a lot. She couldn't peck things and was just standing fluffed up. It did heal OK. The other one had a bigger break but again, still not as big as that.

My understanding is that the end of the beak is like a fingernail. It will grow back as long as the nail bed is OK. From what I can see on the photos, the underneath bed looks OK.

I think you are doing the right thing by making sure she gets food and you may need to do that for a while until the underneath starts to harden up.

As for how it happened, it is difficult to say. My two did it by pecking things that were too hard - like going for a fly on a rock and doing it with a bit too much gusto. I've not seen it in mine from chicken on chicken attacks.

There will be others with experience - but that is the best I can offer I am afraid.

Good luck with her.

 

[LizzzyJo]

I have seen this on a parrot (not a chicken). In that situation, the answer was to cut it down to the break area with nail trimmers (after sterilizing everything). The sharp edge was then filed to prevent food build up in any crevices. Again, this is just from the parrot scenario, but the goal was to avoid infection while the under-beak hardened. I am sorry that I can't offer more specific help.

Edit to clarify to cut the broken section down to the break area, not the whole beak.

 

[LaFleche]

Do you know what can cause this? Did she have a fall or did one of the other girls hurt her?

She might have gotten caught in some wire fence/hardware cloth.

 

[MandS]

She might have gotten caught in some wire fence/hardware cloth.

That's something I never thought of - but yes, very plausible indeed. Good suggestion!

 

[Aleee44]

I have had this a few times but not as badly as this. It was painful for one of mine, but the break was near the end and it bled a lot. She couldn't peck things and was just standing fluffed up. It did heal OK. The other one had a bigger break but again, still not as big as that.

My understanding is that the end of the beak is like a fingernail. It will grow back as long as the nail bed is OK. From what I can see on the photos, the underneath bed looks OK.

I think you are doing the right thing by making sure she gets food and you may need to do that for a while until the underneath starts to harden up.

As for how it happened, it is difficult to say. My two did it by pecking things that were too hard - like going for a fly on a rock and doing it with a bit too much gusto. I've not seen it in mine from chicken on chicken attacks.

There will be others with experience - but that is the best I can offer I am afraid.

Good luck with her.

What did you do? Should I put anything on it or clean it. Will it fall off? Ugh it freaks me out

 

[MandS]

I used some antiseptic powder you can buy here in the UK but if you're in the US, then you can get hold of that triple antibiotic ointment (which I buy each time I visit) which is excellent.

It hardens up quite quickly by the way but it will probably be sore for her to peck anything hard, so keep a good supply of soft food that doesn't require major pecking.

 

[Aleee44]

I used some antiseptic powder you can buy here in the UK but if you're in the US, then you can get hold of that triple antibiotic ointment (which I buy each time I visit) which is excellent.

It hardens up quite quickly by the way but it will probably be sore for her to peck anything hard, so keep a good supply of soft food that doesn't require major pecking.

Will it fall off on its own? Sorry for all my questions lol. Just trying to plan how we are gonna treat her.

 

[MandS]

When we've had a loose bit of beak, we've carefully removed it so it can't do any more damage to the beak bed. Having said that, I've not had one as large as that.

Hopefully someone else can advise if that's the right thing to do or not. If she were mine, that's what I'd do, but that doesn't mean it's correct. Sorry to be a bit wishy washy - but I'm going on experience of something less dramatic as yours.

This link may be helpful Big beak break

Can someone else help confirm if that's right or wrong?