Cracked beak

[abbeycreamcat]

I noticed yesterday one of my 12 week old Polish pullets had a slightly twisted beak. On closer inspection it has a crack in it across one side just under her nostril, is there any way it can be repaired as I am worried it will break right off or continue to twist as she grows. It was not like it when she was in the brooder so she must have damaged it since going outside, they are currently locked in at night and free range during the day. I am happy to take her to our avian vet if it is something that needs fixing by an expert (as I am anything but!), I just need to know if it can be repaired please.
I must add that I have looked on line and realise that cracks can be mended, but I am worried about the fact that it has started to twist, it's not so bad that it is hugely noticeable until picking her up, which I guess is how I missed it amongst the 70 or so chicks I currently have

 

[Eggcessive]

Your chicken may need her feed moistened or a tall feeding dish to help her eat with this problem. There are quite a few threads right here on BYC if you search at the top of the page, and here is a good link: http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2013/01/repairing-chickens-broken-beak.html

 

[abbeycreamcat]

Thanks for the reply Eggcessive, I found that page but it's not really helpful in this instance as the crack is not that simple. I'm not sure when the injury happened but unfortunately I would say it was a little while ago, I've taken a couple of pics and you will see what I mean

 

[Bens-Hens]

I saw your post in the Aussie thread and thought I might come over and see what I can offer, may not be much though.

We had a Light Sussex roo with a similar split, a maybe not as big and not not as far up, but it ran along the beak.



We looked at the glue and clear nail polish methods, but given it's location we trimmed and filed it before using any liquid stuff. I used good quality side cutter pliers to trim back the large part that was hanging out and catching.


I then cleaned up the rough edge with a small file to protect him and anyone he may have pecked.


It did not take too long for this part of his beak to grow out and look like nothing had ever happened.

In your case, I would look at cleaning up the crack as best as possible then sealing it with a non toxic glue, in time it will grow out so you need to buy it time to do that without getting worse.

Best of luck, Cheers Ben

 

[abbeycreamcat]

Thanks for the reply Ben (y)
I will have to try and get a clearer pic of it, the grey looking piece on the top part is where it should be, the crack has actually opened up and twisted across so the beak is now wry. It doesn't look as though it can just be glued back together and by just filling the gap I'm worried that the beak will stay wry or get even worse. Will it grow back down normally from damage that high up? Sorry if I sound dumb, but if one of my ponies damaged the top of his hoof to this extent it would grow back permanently misshapen

 

[Fancychooklady]

Mmm I wonder how she broke it. It is very high and the fact that it is twisting is a bit concerning. My guess would be that if you glued it you could run the risk of getting glue in the wrong place. My isa brown was debeaked when she was a battery hen. I have a feeling the the vet may well advice you to debeak her.
If you decide to glue you'll need a spare set of hands, give me a call if you need a hand.

Btw, " red " is at least 7 years old and the beak has not grown back.

 

[abbeycreamcat]

I think glueing myself it is a bit risky as it is so big and high up. I can't imagine that he will want to debeak her though, it's so high up I think her tongue would be exposed. Maybe I should bring her up for you to have a look at, two heads are better than one!

 

[Bens-Hens]

Our rescue birds had been debeaked and that had not recovered through growth either. Maybe it has to do with how deep the trauma is, debeaking is cauterised with heat. Looking at the above link there is a fair amount of blood and tissue in that area, where Lucky was just the beak material.

Might be lucky being on the side but kind of hard to say without a closer look.

We did not glue for the exact same reason, if we got it in the wrong place we would be in a sticky situation. We had two of us for the basic treatment!

 

[Bens-Hens]

How did you get on with this injury?

 

[abbeycreamcat]

Hi Ben, unlike your roo it wasn't actually lengthways down the beak, it was straight across as in debeaking but much higher up. As well as twisting into a scissor beak it was curling under down the side where the crack was and I couldn't do much about that, but I trimmed her beak at the front to take as much of the scissor off it as possible where it was hooking over and filed down the bump as much as I could above where the crack was. Not sure if it was the right thing to do but the crack seems to have pretty much closed up and the scissor seems much less, so will just have to wait and see now, hopefully it will keep improving will take some more piccies and post them after the crazy Christmas whirlwind madness is over