Injured beak-Any extra care needed?

[Helymo]

This is my main man, Pepper I noticed what looked to be the equivalent of road rash on his top beak a couple days ago to the point where the tip is shorter than the bottom beak. I also noticed he wasn't able to eat meal worms out of my hand. He is acting totally fine other than that but I did go through all the forums yesterday to gather as much info as I could and still wanted to check in to see what others thought. I did feed him some wet feed in a deep dish yesterday and he ate the heck out of it so I do think he was hungry. I plan to do the same while needed. We have a nipple watering system but I did see him getting the water that settles in the cups without pushing the nipple in. Should I put a water dish out as well? He is not acting off at all so I don't think he is dehydrated but I don't know how quickly that can come on. Do I need to do the tea bag thing on an injury like this or no? Lastly, does this look to be an injury from the hardwire cloth and/or squabbling with his peers or could it be caused by something else like a deficiency of some sort that I should be wary of?

First pic is his beak normally, the rest are what it currently looks like.

 

[Blue Raptor]

This is my main man, Pepper I noticed what looked to be the equivalent of road rash on his top beak a couple days ago to the point where the tip is shorter than the bottom beak. I also noticed he wasn't able to eat meal worms out of my hand. He is acting totally fine other than that but I did go through all the forums yesterday to gather as much info as I could and still wanted to check in to see what others thought. I did feed him some wet feed in a deep dish yesterday and he ate the heck out of it so I do think he was hungry. I plan to do the same while needed. We have a nipple watering system but I did see him getting the water that settles in the cups without pushing the nipple in. Should I put a water dish out as well? He is not acting off at all so I don't think he is dehydrated but I don't know how quickly that can come on. Do I need to do the tea bag thing on an injury like this or no? Lastly, does this look to be an injury from the hardwire cloth and/or squabbling with his peers or could it be caused by something else like a deficiency of some sort that I should be wary of?

First pic is his beak normally, the rest are what it currently looks like.

It looks... smashed almost.
@JustAChickenLoverOverHere @sweaterthebroodyrooster

 

[HeatherKellyB]

@RosemaryDuck

 

[RosemaryDuck]

I agree it does look slightly smashed/crushed. Maybe a predator grabbed him by the beak or he got stuck somewhere?

I would clean it off very well and see if the top piece is still attached. Don't yank or pull it. I'm hesitant to recommend using any antiseptics this close to his mouth, but you can water down some betadine to clean the beak off with.

For right now, make him a wet mash out of his feed. It's likely very painful so he'll have a hard time eating.

@Eggcessive Have you seen an injury like this?

 

[Helymo]

Ours don’t free range as we aren’t allowed in our area so no predators but he could have gotten it stuck in the hardware cloth for sure. He ate the wet mush like crazy again but I also saw him trying to preen it on stone without acting like it hurt tonight so I’m thinking it’s not hurting too badly. Thank you for the suggestions!

 

[Banana01]

If the hen was to peck around the bottom edge of the wire for an insect, and the beak became stuck, she may have twisted her head to try to loosen her beak and cracked her beak by mistake.

Can she eat now? You definitely may need to add a different feeder and waterer. If you elevate the water dish on a platform to where she doesn't need to bend her head down, the water is easy if it's at her head level.

Unfortunately it looks like it may break early on in her life, but with a special accomodation she can still eat with her tongue and whatever beak she has left.

Maybe consider brushing on some sort of epoxy resin coating to strengthen it, but not near the nostrils.

Otherwise a deeper dish feeder and elevated waterer is probably necessary. Sometimes when chickens peck on concrete their whole lives the beak wears down, but this injury is such a sudden change it is hard for her to adjust when it breaks.