HELP! Broken Lower Jaw?!?!

[OneAndTwoOfFour]

We walked out this morning and found Ruby walking around normally...but with what looks like a horribly painful BROKEN LOWER JAW. The skin is torn on the left side of her beak and her lower jaw just hangs open and flops about.

Is there any way to save her?

 

[Wezdin]

Does she have any other wounds on her? @Eggcessive @casportpony @Wyorp Rock ever seen something like this?

 

[casportpony]

Wow, I've never seen anything like that either. So I gotta ask,is a vet an option? If not, I could tell you what I might try.

 

[Lanae]

Do you have an exotics vet nearby? I would consult with an exotics vet, but I know not everyone has one close by...

 

[OneAndTwoOfFour]

Does she have any other wounds on her? @Eggcessive @casportpony @Wyorp Rock ever seen something like this?

She has no other wounds on her at all. We’re on thinking she may have crash landed from roosting in a tree. Most of our hens are molting right now.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry about your hen. Do you think that she broke it by injuring herself, or did a predator get to her? Is she able to close her beak or swallow? Vet care would be best, especially someone with experience with beaks (avian or regular vet who knows chickens.) They might be able to repair her beak. The most important thing is to get her to drink fluids and to eat. Offering very wet feed out of a deep bowl would be worth trying if she will take some. If her beak is fractured there may be a lot of pain.

 

[OneAndTwoOfFour]

Do you have an exotics vet nearby? I would consult with an exotics vet, but I know not everyone has one close by...

We are in the Missouri Ozarks. Read go to the end of nowhere and turn left.

 

[OneAndTwoOfFour]

Wow, I've never seen anything like that either. So I gotta ask,is a vet an option? If not, I could tell you what I might try.

Thank you! Please tell us what you might try. We’ve called the only vet within 100 miles who handles chickens and she said there was nothing she could do. Having said that, this vet is an idiot and we would not trust her with any of our chickens anyway. We tried that last year and she was awful.

Thank you so much for any help you can lend. It is greatly appreciated. WE LOVE HER SO!!!

 

[Eggcessive]

The biggest problem will be to see if she can eat and drink. If part of the beak is broken off, I think it caneventually grow back, but she needs to get food. Tube feeding is something that you can do if she won’t drink. There are homemade tubes, made out of aquarium air tubing, and there are red rubber catheters that you can order or buy from a vet. Large syringes either leur lock or catheter tip syringes are also needed. Here is a good thread about tubing chickens:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/updated-go-team-tube-feeding.805728/#post-12548717

 

[OneAndTwoOfFour]

Sorry about your hen. Do you think that she broke it by injuring herself, or did a predator get to her? Is she able to close her beak or swallow? Vet care would be best, especially someone with experience with beaks (avian or regular vet who knows chickens.) They might be able to repair her beak. The most important thing is to get her to drink fluids and to eat. Offering very wet feed out of a deep bowl would be worth trying if she will take some. If her beak is fractured there may be a lot of pain.

Yes, it’s a very grave situation. Her beak isn’t broken at all. HOWEVER, the skin in between her upper and lower beak is torn and her lower beak/jaw just flops about. We are on our way home now from the pharmacy where we got some self-adhesive, easy remov tape, triple antibiotic ointment with pain reliever, aspirin, and eyedroppers. We are hoping and praying that we can help her. We have no vets here who can do anything.