Lethargic hen with broken beak

[GiddyUpGo]

Today I noticed our two year old barred rock was acting a little slow, still walking around but kind of lethargic. I picked her up and she seemed thin to me. When I put the ladies to bed this evening I found her in the nest box. I think it’s an odd time of day for her to be laying but I have seen some of our other hens lay kind of late in the afternoon. Then I noticed she has a broken beak (its broken off the top, pretty close to halfway) and I’m wondering if she’s just not eating well because of that? I don’t know how long it’s been broken. Up until yesterday she seemed to be eating fine ... I always lure them into their coop at night with treats and she’s always right there with the others. If her beak has been broken for a while I feel terrible about not noticing it!

But maybe that’s not the problem? It seems weird she’s in the nest box. When she was younger she did have an incident where she was looking really sick, laying down, acting near death and then she laid an egg with a papery shell and was fine. So maybe it’s got nothing to do with the beak and is something else? We tried giving her some wet feed and a treat and she wasn’t interested, though that could be because she’s laying? Not sure what else to do. Advice would be appreciated.

 

[Animalfisherwoman]

I have a hen with the same issue. It's from a predator raccoon, so there are other facial injuries.

What I'd do is hospital cage the injured one and watch to see if it's eating and drinking. I've seen mine uptake water twice and sniff at some food. I try all sorts of things--grapes, egg, cottage cheese--that she could theoretically consume without a beak. I resorted to syringe feeding her a gatorade/milk/sugar formula, which triggered her drinking and trying to (or actually) eat some food.

She just started sampling some budgie seed. Her injury happened Sunday night or Monday morning, so four days ago.

So what'd I'd do is keep her separate and observe whether she's drinking, eating and pooping. Give it some days if you just don't see eating--in that case try a high-sugar feeder syringe that I have noticed has tended to stimulate the appetite.

 

[GiddyUpGo]

I have a hen with the same issue. It's from a predator raccoon, so there are other facial injuries.

What I'd do is hospital cage the injured one and watch to see if it's eating and drinking. I've seen mine uptake water twice and sniff at some food. I try all sorts of things--grapes, egg, cottage cheese--that she could theoretically consume without a beak. I resorted to syringe feeding her a gatorade/milk/sugar formula, which triggered her drinking and trying to (or actually) eat some food.

She just started sampling some budgie seed. Her injury happened Sunday night or Monday morning, so four days ago.

So what'd I'd do is keep her separate and observe whether she's drinking, eating and pooping. Give it some days if you just don't see eating--in that case try a high-sugar feeder syringe that I have noticed has tended to stimulate the appetite.

Thank you, she is drinking just not eating. She got off the nest box but did not lay an egg.

 

[CalBickieMomma]

It's most likely because she's feeling a bit of pain from her beak wound, though she shouldn't be that skinny (unless the broken beak happened a few days or more ago ...). My Junie (also a Barred Rock), had the same issue a few months ago. Hers was bloody at the tip and when I went into the coop to sit with them, she was extra clingy/needy (most of my chickens like to sit on my lap and cuddle, and her especially because when she was still a tiny chicken she was pretty ill and she got one-on-one special attention for a couple weeks).

Anyhoo, I could just tell her beak was bothering her and that she was just seeking comfort. She also wasn't too keen on pecking at food because the beak was sore. Your girl might be having the same dilemma right now. You could try feeding her some soft food (scrambled/hardboiled egg or pellets soaked in water). You could also try NutriDrench.

 

[Animalfisherwoman]

thanks calbickie!

It's been a month now. She no longer has much of a top beak and all of the bottom part. She's been out with the flock during normal feeding and she can get in there without them chasing her off, but she can't get any food.

She associates me with survival, so now she follows me around. Not like a chicken, more like a little chick before imprinting. She is right there between my feet whenever. Now she doesn't want to go out to the flock and will sit there at the fence whining for me.

 

[dawg53]

Here's a link regarding how to take care of and feed birds with cracked or broken beaks from my personal experience. I hope it helps and your birds recover. See post #7:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/broken-open-beak.1337516/#post-21876931

 

[Animalfisherwoman]

Here's a link regarding how to take care of and feed birds with cracked or broken beaks from my personal experience. I hope it helps and your birds recover. See post #7:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/broken-open-beak.1337516/#post-21876931

I've been doing most of that for my hen. But the disability appears permanent, i.e. I've never seen her pick up a dry cheerio let alone a piece of cracked corn (I tried the corn thing).

Right now, I'm just working to getting her ok with going out with the girls in the day and eventually sleeping with them. If I have to get her twice a day to give her gruel, that's ok too.

 

[dawg53]

She wont pick up the feed because it's painful to try pick up the feed from a hard surface.
Put the feed in a deep bowl and add warm water to it to make a gruel. When she pecks at the watery feed in the bowl, there wont be a hard surface to peck, therefore no pain due to the deep bowl.
You can put a few dried mealworms on top of the watery gruel to tempt her into pecking at them. She should catch on real quick that she can eat without pain.