Dog attack

[fawny chick]

My hen house was attacked by 2 pit bulls. We lost our rooster and 4 hens. One remaining hen has a scratch on her comb but is otherwise ok. The other appears to have a broken upper beak. I'm devastated, but determined to nurse the survivors back to health. Will gladly take any advise on how to treat a broken beak. Thanks so much.

 

[Kelsie2290]

So sorry about your flock, darned dogs. Can you post pictures of the beak? Maybe someone has treated something similar. How badly/where is the beak broken? If she just broke/lost part of the beak it may grow back and either way she should be able to figure out how to eat. A lot of commercial chickens have been 'debeaked' and do OK. You probably want to feed her soft food for now since broken beaks seem to be painful and they often don't want to peck to eat.

 

[chickster2012]

Depending on how much of the beak is missing. If it had a good bit of it it will be OK. Just try different types of feed to see which one it can eat good. If it is missing a lot of the beak it may not be able to maintain it's weight and that's not good. It will still be able to drink. I'm sorry that happen to your chickens. My heart feels for you. My neighbors dog got in my fenced in back yard and killed my silkie rooster and like you I was heart broken. I hope you can get the injured ones healed up. I would go ahead and give it a shot of Tylan 50 to help from getting infection. God Bless

 

[fawny chick]

Thanks so much for the advice and understanding. She appears to be adapting, and I'm so relieved.