Help me please, Tuesday one of my hens injured her beak

[MOvermeyer]

There was blood all over the hen house, but it had quit bleeding before I discovered it. I looked at her and discovered her top beak is broken off about 1/4". I took her away from the other birds yesterday (no one seems to be picking on her thankfully) and fed her chick starter because she couldn't/wouldn't even pick up the cracked corn I feed them as a treat in the evenings. She was able to eat the chick starter OK, and ate, and ate and ate. I figured the antibiotics in it wouldn't hurt her either.

This morning, she made an escape, and headed straight for the chicken coop, so I let her in.

My questions are, can I somehow shave off her bottom beak to match the top a little closer so she can eat? If so, how do I do it without further hurting her? Should I just capture her again and keep her on chick starter for a few more days?

**edited to remove phone number**

Thanks,

Michele

 

[chickenzoo]

Hi, a pic of the beak might be helpful. But from what i can tell I think now that it has quite bleeding it is probably tender and so it makes her sensitive to hard food. Making a mash out of the chick starter & warm water will help. Her beak should toughen up in a few days. She should be able to eat her normal food just fine in a few days. I would not mess with the bottom beak because then she would have two sensitive parts of her beak instead of just one.
Happy Healing

 

[JennsPeeps]

Hi Michele,

I agree with chickenzoo. This little one will heal just fine but may prefer softer foods for a few days. Keep an eye on her beak. If it starts to split up the beak (lengthwise) you can use superglue or fingernail glue to hold it together.

She'll be fine! Go get a hug fomr someone who loves you so you can be fine, too.

 

[crtrlovr]

Please leave the bottom beak alone! If the top beak has stopped bleeding, leave it alone too except for maybe putting some antibiotic ointment WITHOUT PAIN RELIEVER on it, and use small crumbles or even mash so she can eat without pain. I'm sure her beak is probably REALLY sore and tender right now. Offer her some soft treats like melon, tomatoes, or strawberries if you have some on hand, but I'd leave off the scratch or cracked corn for now. The top beak should heal ok if the break isn't far back into the growth plate area. Take care of you, too!

 

[JennsPeeps]

Thanks for adding that about the bottom beak! I missed that in the OP & forgot to address it.

 

[highcountrychickens]

Sadly, your hen did to herself what a lot of folks do for hens that pick... The good news is that it will grow back... Great advice about the soft food for a while.. beyond that and a little antibiotic cream, she will be back to normal toute suite...

good luck!!

 

[MOvermeyer]

Thanks all. Your kind words and advice make me a lot less frantic.

I put here in her own pen again this evening, and blocked her escape hole and gave her more chick starter. She keeps spilling it, so the advice of adding warm water is really helpful.

She, like all my hens are really sweet and friendly, so it was really scary - and you should have seen all the blood on the hen boxes! I'm really glad I got a few little guys again last month (I got 2 little silkies and a sizzle chick - just for fun and cute, and 4 little ameracunas(?) which is why I have the chick starter - thank God!)

Can I get a little more advice? This is the first time I will have tried to add in new chicks to my other girls who I got all at the same time and are just over 1 year old. The chicks are almost fully feathered now, so once they are bigger, how can I add them to the big pen without them getting picked on? Right now, they are in a little temporary pen adjacent to the "big chicken" coop, but with mesh so the big girls can't hurt them. Suggestions?

 

[highcountrychickens]

Hey! By the way...

suggestions in the morning... I'm crosseyed sleepy tonight!

 

[crtrlovr]

if you're using a wet food such as mash, be VERY diligent about changing it frequently in this hot, humid weather. Anything moist like that will spoil VERY quickly, and you certainly don't want your girl getting sick from spoiled food. Good luck with your sweetie!

 

[Judy]

She might also benefit from a deeper feed bowl, so she can scoop up the feed, til her beak recovers.

You can clip off a bit of the bottom beak if you want. I probably would not.