Help!! Chicken with an injured tongue

[Splashme89]

Hello all,

I found one of my month-old chickens with a string wrapped around the base of her tongue this morning. She was in shock when we unwrapped it. She's fine swallowing when I give her water, but the tongue is just hanging there (see picture below) and she won't eat or move around much, just stands with her beak hanging open or tries to eat.

Others in previous forums recommended cutting off the tongue when it gets partially severed. But I don't think it's severed, from what i can see, just dead looking.

Should I risk infection/hurting her more by cutting the tongue off? Or will leaving it bring on an infection? Other than aspirin/electrolytes, is there anything i should give her? We can't visit the vet for financial reasons or I would love to, but hoping we can help her recover from this!

 

[BantamLover21]

I'd wait and see how she is tomorrow. She's probably tired and still kind of in shock from her tongue being tangled, and it may take a while for her to go back to normal. Just make sure she is kept hydrated and eats at least a little food. If the tongue gets worse, only then would I consider cutting it off. But cutting the tongue seems like it would be painful and at risk of infection, so I wouldn't do it unless necessary.

 

[Eggcessive]

I always tend to take my time in deciding to do something drastic, so I would watch her over the next few days, seeing how well she eats and drinks. If the tongue was stangulated, the tip may fall off on it's own. There may need to be some feeding changes made to get her to eat well. Here is a similar thread that may be of interest to you if you haven't seen it: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...mics-wet-fowl-pox-an-important-lesson-learned

 

[pwand]

Also waiting for the tongue to fall off on its own, do a course of antibiotics to prevent infection and it should fall off and heal.

 

[pwand]

Keep her in the dark for awhile to help reduce shock.

 

[Splashme89]

Thank you everyone! I have her inside in a dark[ish] place, and she's doing ok. Thank you Eggcessive for that link, I'll be sure to double check and make sure there's no string left. And I moved everyone else from a cage covered with a blanket (never doing that again!) to the big-girl coop today too. I'll watch her for the next few days.