Hen with injured beak - pic added *Update*

[Pupsnpullets]

This morning one of my girls presented herself with a bloody, damaged beak. Ouch!! She can open it and is very gingerly trying to clean it off by wiping it on the ground. The bleeding has stopped and most of it seems intact. What is the best way to help her at this point?

 

[Pupsnpullets]

um...any suggestions please....?

 

[Soccer Mom]

Do you have any pics? It's hard to know what to say without knowing a little more. The first thing I would do is isolate her from the others and very gently clean and inspect the damage. Can she eat and drink normally?

 

[Countrywife]

I would try softly cleaning it, and see if she can eat or drink

 

[PremierSilkies]

Umm
Had a white silkie cockerel get in a fight, hit the wall, outer layer of beak hanging by just the corner. Blood everwhere. Pulled the thing off, cleaned it up, put him in a wire bottom cage by himself until it hardened up. Another layer of beak came in over the last year, but he will never show. I did make sure when he went into a group it was only girls until the new layer came in. He is still good for my breeding program. And he is no longer a hard a** in the pen, lol
They are tender for awhile and make sure they keep eating. I will hand feed mine if needed to make sure they eat. Lots of pets & hugs.
C

 

[Pupsnpullets]

Thanks. I have her separated. She's in a Varikennel. Now for some more questions: what's the best thing to clean it with? I have bleach which I can dilute way down. Ditto for pinesole. Or just warm water. I think I have some peroxide, too.

As for feeding I'm don't want to use really soft stuff like yogurt cos it will stick to her beak and cause her to wipe it clean. Scrambled egg, perhaps?

Oh, I'll post pics as soon as she's cleaned up. Thanks for the help.

 

[Countrywife]

I would just soften and clean with water until I could get a good look at it. I would hesitate to put anything else on it until you find out if there is a hole or anything. Just gently clean it with water to find out what you are dealing with.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Saline water or very dilute iodine. I wouldn;t use bleach and I DEFEINTELY would not use pinesol. Feed soft foods until it has healed.

 

[Pupsnpullets]

Well, of course cleaning her up got her bleeding again, darn it. And being separated is stressful for her even though she is the calmest of all the girls. Thank God it wasn't Annie, the Brown Leghorn.

Can't tell much from the picture but she has bruising at the base of the beak and some skin off. The tip of the beak is gone but her tongue appears undamaged. I've put some rescue remedy in the water to help with the stress and if the bleeding doesn't stop within a few minutes I'll give her a homeopathic remedy and throw a blanket over the kennel.

 

[Pupsnpullets]

My injured girl is eating like a pig

so unless something goes wrong she's on the road to health and well-being. Thanks everyone.