Hen broke her upper beak back to the nares

[Hen Pen Jem]

Greetings Noreaster Egger,

Oh I'm so sorry for your poor hen. It it clear she is in pain, as this is a serious injury. Normally the beak would be repaired with some super glue, but since the broken part is missing, that is no longer an option.

I would call the vet and express the critical nature of the injury. Perhaps the vet can at least provide some meloxicam for pain. You cannot give aspirin since there is bleeding. But if you have any Carprofen, that can help with the pain if the vet will not help.

The beak will heal with time. However, it may not regrow to a normal length. Her upper palate is also removed so you will have to keep the area clean and apply antibiotic ointment daily. Be vigilant for infection.

Yes, you will have to accommodate the hen with a soft or even a liquid diet until she heals. You may have to use an oral syringe to place some thick liquid food in the mouth. Or even tube feed her until she starts to adapt to her short beak. Extra protein will help her during her molt, and also during the healing process.

Here are some food ideas:

• Baby food beef, scrambled egg, mashed cooked vegies, minced or pureed fresh fruit etc.
• You can also feed her some Kaytee Baby Bird meal replacement. This will provide premixed food with vitamins and can be used in an oral syringe after adding water.
• If she is laying she'll need some extra calcium too.
• Layer feed that has been ground and sifted, then, mixed with water, can also go into the oral syringe.

You will have to see what works for the hen to get her daily nutrition. When feeding with an oral syringe you will have to be careful not to aspirate the hen. Hopefully, you already know how to do this.

This injury will also affect the hen's ability to preen her feathers. So, you will have to help her with that as well.

These are my thoughts on your hens beak injury. I hope I have been helpful.

God's Blessings to your hen for a recovery.

 

[Noreaster Egger]

Thank you so much everyone for the many replies and advice. I got home from work today and right when she saw me she perked up, gave a little whine, and ran my way. So I sat down on our log and she hopped up on my lap like she always does and just went to sleep on my lap for a little bit, all content.

We gave her a few mealworms by placing them in her bottom beak, but she wasn’t understanding how to eat them. I think she only got about 3 of them down. When we went out to free range she was running around like normal, but obviously couldn’t do her normal routine. I give them a cooked sweet potato every night and she tried to eat it, but just kept stabbing it with her bottom portion. So she went to bed a little hungry tonight, but we’ll try again tomorrow. She had a rough day and she has a lot of new feathers emerging all over her body so she’s pretty sensitive right now and doesn’t want to be grabbed.

We used to ferment their food and although we stopped that we continued to soak their pellets in a bowl every morning and feed them the wet mash. So she’s used to eating food as a wet mash already…just gotta teach her to use her beak as a scoop.

 

[All4Eggz]

Thank you so much everyone for the many replies and advice. I got home from work today and right when she saw me she perked up, gave a little whine, and ran my way. So I sat down on our log and she hopped up on my lap like she always does and just went to sleep on my lap for a little bit, all content.

We gave her a few mealworms by placing them in her bottom beak, but she wasn’t understanding how to eat them. I think she only got about 3 of them down. When we went out to free range she was running around like normal, but obviously couldn’t do her normal routine. I give them a cooked sweet potato every night and she tried to eat it, but just kept stabbing it with her bottom portion. So she went to bed a little hungry tonight, but we’ll try again tomorrow. She had a rough day and she has a lot of new feathers emerging all over her body so she’s pretty sensitive right now and doesn’t want to be grabbed.

We used to ferment their food and although we stopped that we continued to soak their pellets in a bowl every morning and feed them the wet mash. So she’s used to eating food as a wet mash already…just gotta teach her to use her beak as a scoop.

View attachment 2855752

Poor thing
You're doing a great job. Don't give up. Try to spend more time with her and keep trying to feed her, whenever you get the chance.
She's gorgeous

 

[SilkySilkie]

hope she gets better and how did she manage to do this?

 

[Noreaster Egger]

hope she gets better and how did she manage to do this?

No idea. She was fine last night in the coop and then I opened up the pop door this morning before work to let them out. There’s low light out now when I leave so most didn’t come out before I left. My wife went out mid morning to check their feed and give them some mealies and that’s when she noticed it. So she either fell hopping down from the roost or had some freak accident in the run.

 

[SilkySilkie]

did

No idea. She was fine last night in the coop and then I opened up the pop door this morning before work to let them out. There’s low light out now when I leave so most didn’t come out before I left. My wife went out mid morning to check their feed and give them some mealies and that’s when she noticed it. So she either fell hopping down from the roost or had some freak accident in the run.

you manage to find the beak?

 

[Banana01]

That is a tough injury to have to deal with. They use their beaks to clean and maintain their feathers, and she is probably frustrated until she gets used to it. Wish I had some advice for you, but I hope she gets through this stressful time and you can find a way to get back to a normal life soon. I really hope you can find a replacement prosthetic beak to attach.

A higher risk procedure, but doable, would be to file down the lower beak to be even with the upper beak, and then reshape the upper and lowers to be usable for pecking. That would be a better option than what the vet is likely to recommend which is his monthly special on culling. Maybe post some more photos here of the side, front and top view and see the shapes would work. I assume a specialist could file the beak under anastesia. You would really need a 3d model of the beak, and design the cuts of the curves with machine like precision. If you have some tech savvy, it could be fixed and you would have a bird with a half sized beak.

 

[Abriana]

I had a rooster that this happened to. My sister was raising her foot to prevent him from rushing her at the same time he pecked and the combined force broke his upper beak. Oh it looked so so painful. I clipped the dangling piece off and rubbed Neosporin with pain killers on the exposed quick. He refused to eat or drink so I used a syringe to give him water throughout the day. Later in the evening I put him in with the hens and he started drinking when he saw them doing it. Obviously not the nipple water though. He healed up nicely and was fine and happy, definitely miss him a lot

I would get maybe a bucket type of waterer, you can get heated ones at Premier 1. Put a board over half of it to prevent chickens from getting it dirty or falling in. Raise it up on a block of wood or something so that it’s high enough for her to scoop into her mouth without having to lower or raise her head very much. And then as you and others said, wet food. It’ll be way easier for her to scoop up. Maybe at some point she will learn to even scoop dry food, just always keep an eye on her and check her crop to make sure she is getting her share/that she’s able to eat properly. She also won’t be able to preen properly and spread oil through her feathers so she may need extra help staying clean and dry. Make sure she always has a dry area to go to!

Beaks are like fingernails, they are always growing and most chickens keep them at a proper length by pecking/sharpening on rocks. Honestly, who knows if it will grow back? Either way, chickens are surprisingly adaptable to some of the wildest of disabilities or injuries, so I would definitely have confidence in her! I’m really sorry that it happened, any injury is so stressful and worrisome.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

You may have to use an oral syringe to place some thick liquid food in the mouth. Or even tube feed her until she starts to adapt to her short beak.

We gave her a few mealworms by placing them in her bottom beak, but she wasn’t understanding how to eat them.

I give them a cooked sweet potato every night and she tried to eat it, but just kept stabbing it with her bottom portion. So she went to bed a little hungry tonight

But was she hydrated when she went to roost? Hydration is most important, food is second.
Here's info on tube feeding if it comes to that. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/crop-feeding.75454/

 

[Noreaster Egger]

A quick update as I've been busy with work and trying to take care of my Rose...

She has been drinking. They always have a large fill-type waterer up on a cement block and I've seen her drinking from that multiple times. So I'm confident she's keeping herself hydrated.

The big problem is eating. Neither my wife, nor I, have seen her eating on her own. That doesn't mean she isn't eating, but we haven't seen it with our own eyes. We've tried to force some mealies, wet mash, pellets, sunflower hearts, etc into her beak, but she flings most of it out. She's extra squirmish right now with the heavy molt. We did get a little yogurt, wet mash, and a grape in her tonight, but I know she isn't getting enough. I tried putting sunflower hearts in a deep small container to see if she could put her bottom beak deeper in to get some seeds and I didn't notice much, if any, success in getting any into her.

What is the recommended amount of feed per pound of bird? Can anyone recommend a good feeding tube that is larger enough to feed wet mash with? Would something like a powdery chick starter maybe enable her to get some feed to "stick" to her tongue any maybe help teach her a new way to eat?

I feel like if we can just get her to get the hang of it she'll be off and running. Also, what's the rate of typical beak growth? I don't expect it to grow back, but theoretically if it did, when would I notice about 1/8" of new growth?

tl;dr...

Can anyone recommend a good feeding tube that will feed wet mash feed?