HELP! Broken Bill!!!!!

[DuCKS333]

Hi all,

Urgent help needed, woke up this morning to my lovely goose Peggy covered in blood. She’s broken the bottom of her bill! See attached photo, it’s not fully snapped, the other side is hanging on just.

We’ve made a make shift brace with super glue and a match stick to hold the other side up so it does completely tear off furthering the damage. She seems ok in herself, but she’s struggling to eat and drink.

Any suggestions?

 

[Goosebaby]

I can’t really say because I haven’t seen an injury like this before but my gut says that she’s going to lose the tip of her jaw and that it won’t grow back, but the good news is that she has enough jaw left that she will do fine after she learns to adapt.

My guess is she was rooting around, maybe was startled or caught on something, panicked, and snapped it off while trying to get herself out of the situation.

The bill and jaw of a goose is mostly flesh and bone with only the tip and serrations being made of keratin. If the keratin is damaged it quickly regrows and isn’t much of a big deal, but the actual bone at the tip of her jaw up underneath the keratin layer is broken.

Looking at it it’s already turned black from lack of blood flow so it’s beyond saving, at this point just let it fall off on its own or take her to a vet and have the tip surgically removed.

Because her bone is broken and exposed there’s the possibility of infection so it must be kept clean while it seals itself off and heals, she may very likely need antibiotics, and a painkiller like meloxicam.

This isn’t something a vet can fix but they can prescribe the painkiller and antibiotics if you don’t already have some on hand, if a vet isn’t an option there is fish antibiotics you can purchase online.


She does have enough jaw to make eating not an issue once the pain is gone and she adapts, eating tougher foods that require “pecking” are going to be tough if not impossible, grazing won’t because it’s more of a side movement, feed may be trickier because it requires shoveling, she’ll have to learn to scoop it with more of a sideways motion like grazing, it may help to feed her in a narrower dish where it can pile deeper.
She might only be able to handle liquids while this is healing and painful, making her feed into a soupy mash might help, though when they’re in pain they don’t have much of an appetite.

If you can keep infection down an injury like this does have a good outlook, she won’t be as special needs and will do fine once she learns to adapt to the change.

 

[DuCKS333]

Thank you very much for your extremely well written response. It’s very very helpful.

Update on Peggy- she’s acting 99% normal, the only difference is she’s shaking her head a little here and there where I think obviously the make shift brace/support with a match stick we made is a bit odd.
No more bleeding.
She’s been separated (as soon as we noticed this morning) with her life partner Greg into a stable with fresh hay bedding.
I mashed some food up for her but she’s not keen on that as obviously normally she mainly eats greens. I left grass out that she has eaten and left some Romanian lettuce in the hay which she LOVEs. Although lettuce might not be the best I thought, I need her to eat & this will also hydrate her. I have seen her drink today aswell and I’ve left a tub of fresh water. Do you think this is ok?
In the stable it is mainly clean and there’s no mud for her to stick her beak in which is what she does all day normally. I will keep her there for a few days I think.

What should I look out for infection wise? Off food? Redness?

Thanks again for your response.

 

[Anime2lover]

Thank you very much for your extremely well written response. It’s very very helpful.

Update on Peggy- she’s acting 99% normal, the only difference is she’s shaking her head a little here and there where I think obviously the make shift brace/support with a match stick we made is a bit odd.
No more bleeding.
She’s been separated (as soon as we noticed this morning) with her life partner Greg into a stable with fresh hay bedding.
I mashed some food up for her but she’s not keen on that as obviously normally she mainly eats greens. I left grass out that she has eaten and left some Romanian lettuce in the hay which she LOVEs. Although lettuce might not be the best I thought, I need her to eat & this will also hydrate her. I have seen her drink today aswell and I’ve left a tub of fresh water. Do you think this is ok?
In the stable it is mainly clean and there’s no mud for her to stick her beak in which is what she does all day normally. I will keep her there for a few days I think.

What should I look out for infection wise? Off food? Redness?

Thanks again for your response.

An infected injury will usually puss up. And scab it gets will have a yellowish pussy look to it. This isn't my pic, but this is what a pussy injury may look like (not sure if it's the same for a beak injury though)

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/urgent-severe-chicken-injuries.1163558/

 

[Goosebaby]

Thank you very much for your extremely well written response. It’s very very helpful.

Update on Peggy- she’s acting 99% normal, the only difference is she’s shaking her head a little here and there where I think obviously the make shift brace/support with a match stick we made is a bit odd.
No more bleeding.
She’s been separated (as soon as we noticed this morning) with her life partner Greg into a stable with fresh hay bedding.
I mashed some food up for her but she’s not keen on that as obviously normally she mainly eats greens. I left grass out that she has eaten and left some Romanian lettuce in the hay which she LOVEs. Although lettuce might not be the best I thought, I need her to eat & this will also hydrate her. I have seen her drink today aswell and I’ve left a tub of fresh water. Do you think this is ok?
In the stable it is mainly clean and there’s no mud for her to stick her beak in which is what she does all day normally. I will keep her there for a few days I think.

What should I look out for infection wise? Off food? Redness?

Thanks again for your response.

Romaine lettuce is perfectly fine, at this point whatever she’s willing to eat let her eat, it sounds like you’re doing everything just right for her.

As for infection, signs will be swelling, puss as @Anime2lover mentioned, spreading necrotic “black” tissue, and she’ll begin acting more withdrawn and lethargic.

 

[DuCKS333]

Romaine lettuce is perfectly fine, at this point whatever she’s willing to eat let her eat, it sounds like you’re doing everything just right for her.

As for infection, signs will be swelling, puss as @Anime2lover mentioned, spreading necrotic “black” tissue, and she’ll begin acting more withdrawn and lethargic.

Ok I’ll keep a close eye out for that. So far we haven’t administered any antibiotics, the wound was cleaned with fresh water when we first found her but so far she isn’t showing any signs of discomfort. When I go in she gets up to greet me and is happy to sit by me and be carefully cuddled (she’s a great goose)
She’s is also not in discomfort when you touch the match stick that we’ve used a brace… so I think for now I’m going to continue to monitor every few hours a day to see if she need antibiotics. We did speak to a vet briefly on the phone and they said we will just have to wait for that part of the beak to drop off…

I will watch very closely for any signs of infection. It’s possible now she’s had this injury for 24 hrs as it happened through the night last night. How long will it take for the wound/bone area to seal so it can’t get infected ??
As we won’t want to let her out of the controlled environment (the stable) until then when we can be sure she’s safe. Peg and Gregorina (was Greg until we realised it was a girl 2 weeks ago when an egg popped out ) usually live with 3 ducks, Rambo, Weird & Baby so they are missing them very much. Although I think they’re enjoying the break from continuous ducks trying to hump them

I do have some anti infection blue spray that we use for cattle, goat, donkeys ect but I’m very very wary of using this so close to her mouth. She’d 100% end up ingesting it. And I do not want my little lady to get anymore sick

 

[DuCKS333]

Is there anything I can

An infected injury will usually puss up. And scab it gets will have a yellowish pussy look to it. This isn't my pic, but this is what a pussy injury may look like (not sure if it's the same for a beak injury though)

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/urgent-severe-chicken-injuries.1163558/

Is there anything safe I could dip her beak in tomorrow that would sterilise her wound?? I’m terrified she’ll get an infection!

 

[DuCKS333]

Romaine lettuce is perfectly fine, at this point whatever she’s willing to eat let her eat, it sounds like you’re doing everything just right for her.

As for infection, signs will be swelling, puss as @Anime2lover mentioned, spreading necrotic “black” tissue, and she’ll begin acting more withdrawn and lethargic.

Is there anything safe I could dip her beak in tomorrow that would sterilise her wound?? I’m terrified she’ll get an infection!

 

[Anime2lover]

Is there anything I can

Is there anything safe I could dip her beak in tomorrow that would sterilise her wound?? I’m terrified she’ll get an infection!

Salt water, just don't let her drink it.

 

[Goosebaby]

Ok I’ll keep a close eye out for that. So far we haven’t administered any antibiotics, the wound was cleaned with fresh water when we first found her but so far she isn’t showing any signs of discomfort. When I go in she gets up to greet me and is happy to sit by me and be carefully cuddled (she’s a great goose)
She’s is also not in discomfort when you touch the match stick that we’ve used a brace… so I think for now I’m going to continue to monitor every few hours a day to see if she need antibiotics. We did speak to a vet briefly on the phone and they said we will just have to wait for that part of the beak to drop off…

I will watch very closely for any signs of infection. It’s possible now she’s had this injury for 24 hrs as it happened through the night last night. How long will it take for the wound/bone area to seal so it can’t get infected ??
As we won’t want to let her out of the controlled environment (the stable) until then when we can be sure she’s safe. Peg and Gregorina (was Greg until we realised it was a girl 2 weeks ago when an egg popped out ) usually live with 3 ducks, Rambo, Weird & Baby so they are missing them very much. Although I think they’re enjoying the break from continuous ducks trying to hump them

I do have some anti infection blue spray that we use for cattle, goat, donkeys ect but I’m very very wary of using this so close to her mouth. She’d 100% end up ingesting it. And I do not want my little lady to get anymore sick

I share that concern about the possibility of her swallowing the wound spray, I had a goose with a mouth injury a few years ago and I was really concerned about her swallowing anything I put on the wound.

You could try Apple cider vinegar in her water, it will help reduce bacteria growth in her water and in the wound when she dips her beak in, or you could try adding citric acid to her water for the same reason.

I would say a few days to a week will be enough time for her beak to seal the wound, though I don’t recommend letting her play in mud for two weeks, definitly watch it for signs of infection during that time.