Hen with beak injury

[EdistoChicks]

One of my hens looked ill this morning. I put them into their coop last night for the first time. Before that they were underneath. She appears to have injured her beak, it looks like the top layer was peeled off. Should I medicate her. I am really concerned.

 

[CMV]

Need more info and pics would be most helpful. What would you medicate her for? Chickens are very resilient and can recover from some pretty devastating injuries. Peeling back the horn coating of the beak would not cause a lot of distress unless it is more severe than I am gathering from your post.

 

[EdistoChicks]

She seems to be unable to eat. She was fine last night. Her crop felt a bit big, maybe it is something else. She went into a new coop last night and I used shredded paper for bedding. I was afraid they may try and eat it but I don't know that they did or didn't. I am new to all of this. I have no clue what to try next.

 

[CMV]

Check her crop again. Is it full or empty? If she has not eaten then it should feel empty. If it still feels full you may need to do a little olive oil and crop massage. She should be able to pass paper through, but not if she ate a ton of it. Smell her breath, too, while you are at it. Sour crop shows up as a nasty breath stench.

 

[EdistoChicks]

Thank you for that info. I massaged her crop and rechecked it, she is now walking around and the crop feels a bit smaller. I tell you, this is like raising children all over again, except the children come out walking.