EMERGENCY - GRAPHIC Can she make it?

[bgmathteach]

This poor girl has had her top beak ripped off by a racoon. The other hen was killed, and she has been running around all day trying to eat and drink. I didn't even know she was injured until I caught her and saw the horror. Is there any way she can live like this? Or would it be best to put her down? I am devastated.


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Absolutely, she can survive. I had a roo that lost his and he is just fine and dandy now!
1) Wash the 'quick' of the beak thoroughly using either peroxide or a povodine iodine/betadine wash (gently, but try to make sure it is CLEAN)

2) Cover the quick with a salve. I prefer to use natural means, but triple antibiotic ointment would be best here.

3) TRY to wrap with non-stick sterile gauge pads, then use some vet-wrap. (I can't tell for sure, but it actually looks like part of the quick is missing, too? If so, you won't be able to wrap it effectively - leave it open but salved.)

Be careful in steps 2 & 3 to not cover/occlude the nares.

Since she has been without food all/most of the day, before step 3, I would try to feed her some mash and electrolyte water. If you have a syringe ( needle-less), you can make some mash with your layer feed, pry open her beak and syringe a little in at a time, or scramble/hard boil an egg and feed her the crumbled egg. (You can open the beak by gently prying at the back corner, so as not to touch/put pressure on the injured portion) For the water, also use a syringe, but just gently drop one drop at a time at the hinge/corner of her beak, and she will probably drink it fine. For the gravity to work properly, you will need her to be slightly tipped to one side, so the drop drips towards beak/tongue.

She will probably fight you, so if you have an old towel, I would suggest wrapping her in it snugly . You can do it by yourself (I managed), but it is much easier if you have a second person.

If you can't keep the exposed quick covered with gauze/vet wrap (which, you probably won't be able to for long if at all.), Just check on the quick/injured part multiple times a day (such as when you assist her with eating drinking), make sure it is still clean, and apply more triple-antibiotic. In a few days it will scab over pretty well, but she will need to be fed for quite a while until the beak grows back. (think of it like losing a toenail...except this affects their eating/drinking)

IF you are somewhat handy and okay with doing this ( and there is enough of the beak base left to attach it to)....once the quick isn't quite so raw, trim a piece of clear plastic from a container that has a curved lip (i.e. the clear containers from the deli department work pretty good) The curved part should fit somewhat well over the beak....cut it to mimic the shape of the missing portion...but longer so overlaps the base. Sand the edges so not sharp, and take some super glue...put the glue on the base of the beak that is present, slide the plastic prosthetic beak on and hold it in place to dry. I suggest using the gel form of super glue if you do this, and make sure that the exposed part of the quick is well 'grease' with triple antibiotic so no super glue will accidentally get onto that part. If you are able to somewhat mimic the shape of the missing beak, your girl should be able to eat (awkwardly, but none-the-less eat) on her own with this. I successfully did this with my Roo and it acted both as a protection of the quick AND enabled him to eat some on his own. It lasted about 1-1.5 weeks, and I then repeated this. By the time the second one came off, it was healed enough and long enough that he could eat some without the prosthetic (needed a dish that had food deep enough the longer bottom of the beak could dig into food until the top part was in contact with pellets, too.)

I probably don't need to say this, but I will just in case. Keep your hen isolated in a warm, dry, comfortable space. If you are home during the day, and she seems to be doing okay, you can allow her a little 'play time' with her flock mates so she doesn't lose her standing....but only supervised until the quick heals or with the prosthetic in place so it doesn't get re-injured.

Best of Luck! As long as it doesn't get infected, and she gets enough nutrition, she should be fine

 

[bgmathteach]

I tried to give her some food and water and it didn’t look like she could get anything down, there was so much damage. I ended up putting her down so she wouldn’t suffer. One of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Hell of a time to give up wine.

So sorry, I didn't see this part when I posted. That is a terribly hard thing to have to do. Sorry for your loss

 

[BrahminChick]

Sorry for your loss. There have been other chickens with such bad injuries, and there are other threads here about them. But it takes a lot of care, and weeks or moths of hand feeding or tube feeding to survive something this bad.

AGreed。 2 months after the bear attack on our coop I’m still caring for，treating and running after our boy Wei wei who defended the lot and was the only hurt one. Thought he was a goner but now I’ve got many months of special are and recovery with him

 

[Smashlee83]

Absolutely, she can survive. I had a roo that lost his and he is just fine and dandy now!
1) Wash the 'quick' of the beak thoroughly using either peroxide or a povodine iodine/betadine wash (gently, but try to make sure it is CLEAN)

2) Cover the quick with a salve. I prefer to use natural means, but triple antibiotic ointment would be best here.

3) TRY to wrap with non-stick sterile gauge pads, then use some vet-wrap. (I can't tell for sure, but it actually looks like part of the quick is missing, too? If so, you won't be able to wrap it effectively - leave it open but salved.)

Be careful in steps 2 & 3 to not cover/occlude the nares.

Since she has been without food all/most of the day, before step 3, I would try to feed her some mash and electrolyte water. If you have a syringe ( needle-less), you can make some mash with your layer feed, pry open her beak and syringe a little in at a time, or scramble/hard boil an egg and feed her the crumbled egg. (You can open the beak by gently prying at the back corner, so as not to touch/put pressure on the injured portion) For the water, also use a syringe, but just gently drop one drop at a time at the hinge/corner of her beak, and she will probably drink it fine. For the gravity to work properly, you will need her to be slightly tipped to one side, so the drop drips towards beak/tongue.

She will probably fight you, so if you have an old towel, I would suggest wrapping her in it snugly . You can do it by yourself (I managed), but it is much easier if you have a second person.

If you can't keep the exposed quick covered with gauze/vet wrap (which, you probably won't be able to for long if at all.), Just check on the quick/injured part multiple times a day (such as when you assist her with eating drinking), make sure it is still clean, and apply more triple-antibiotic. In a few days it will scab over pretty well, but she will need to be fed for quite a while until the beak grows back. (think of it like losing a toenail...except this affects their eating/drinking)

IF you are somewhat handy and okay with doing this ( and there is enough of the beak base left to attach it to)....once the quick isn't quite so raw, trim a piece of clear plastic from a container that has a curved lip (i.e. the clear containers from the deli department work pretty good) The curved part should fit somewhat well over the beak....cut it to mimic the shape of the missing portion...but longer so overlaps the base. Sand the edges so not sharp, and take some super glue...put the glue on the base of the beak that is present, slide the plastic prosthetic beak on and hold it in place to dry. I suggest using the gel form of super glue if you do this, and make sure that the exposed part of the quick is well 'grease' with triple antibiotic so no super glue will accidentally get onto that part. If you are able to somewhat mimic the shape of the missing beak, your girl should be able to eat (awkwardly, but none-the-less eat) on her own with this. I successfully did this with my Roo and it acted both as a protection of the quick AND enabled him to eat some on his own. It lasted about 1-1.5 weeks, and I then repeated this. By the time the second one came off, it was healed enough and long enough that he could eat some without the prosthetic (needed a dish that had food deep enough the longer bottom of the beak could dig into food until the top part was in contact with pellets, too.)

I probably don't need to say this, but I will just in case. Keep your hen isolated in a warm, dry, comfortable space. If you are home during the day, and she seems to be doing okay, you can allow her a little 'play time' with her flock mates so she doesn't lose her standing....but only supervised until the quick heals or with the prosthetic in place so it doesn't get re-injured.

Best of Luck! As long as it doesn't get infected, and she gets enough nutrition, she should be fine

I appreciate this. I spent some time with her looking at her injuries inside her mouth, and weighed my options of what I could devote to her recovery and it just didn't seem feasible. I'm glad she's no longer in pain, but emotionally was pretty rough on me and my family.

 

[BrahminChick]

AGreed。 2 months after the bear attack on our coop I’m still caring for，treating and running after our boy Wei wei who defended the lot and was the only hurt one. Thought he was a goner but now I’ve got many months of special are and recovery with him

 

[bgmathteach]

AGreed。 2 months after the bear attack on our coop I’m still caring for，treating and running after our boy Wei wei who defended the lot and was the only hurt one. Thought he was a goner but now I’ve got many months of special are and recovery with him

What a brave boy! He is a keeper Roo!! Thanks to your good care, he is looking much better in the second set of pics. While it IS a lot of work, I have a really hard time not trying...and always feel terrible when I'm not able to save them. (But I have put a couple down because it was the only humane thing to do) I agree with both of you - it is a lot of time and effort - and in all honesty, my chickens aren't worth it if you do hard accounting.....but emotionally they are priceless.

 

[BrahminChick]

Tot

What a brave boy! He is a keeper Roo!! Thanks to your good care, he is looking much better in the second set of pics. While it IS a lot of work, I have a really hard time not trying...and always feel terrible when I'm not able to save them. (But I have put a couple down because it was the only humane thing to do) I agree with both of you - it is a lot of time and effort - and in all honesty, my chickens aren't worth it if you do hard accounting.....but emotionally they are priceless.

100% agreed! So much work and dedication - I’ve had to care less for my cats and the others due to his braveness. No chickens died! So definitely its alottttt of hard work to take into account! There’s been a few others culled due to other reasons. But this one I raised as a baby so I couldn’t go without trying!