Please help with damaged beak! Rooster, insect bite. Swollen face

[Wyorp Rock]

How's he doing Kris?

To me it looks like he lost the outer layer of his beak, sort of like if you lose part of a fingernail. Hurts and is tender. He'll be sensitive for several days. I would probably just give him wet feed to eat and keep watch on him. That *should* harden up and mend unless he bumps it really good. I've had similar and they do eventually grow out as well - or at least mine have.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

thank you for the links and information he is taking egg yolk and wet feed from my hand (so messy) but he won’t eat without his girls nearby and they go crazy for it, so I’m having to sit right next to them just outside to get him to eat. The swelling is almost completely gone now, so I will switch over to the aspirin for him. I’ve got several rescues with horribly cropped upper beaks, and didn’t quite know what the potential for recovery here could be.

Thanks for the response! 100% positive By now it Was a bite of some sort. The swelling started to respond almost immediately to the anti-histamine, my first pics were a few hours after I gave it to him, the swelling was initially much worse, but I was concerned about treating him and getting everyone set up for the day over taking the pictures first thing. he does have a tiny scratch below his eye on the worse side. I’ve found the spot on the wire where I think he was rubbing, it’s a bit bloody, and a sort of patch/smear between chest and head height. Also, I can’t Just think what else could/would remove that much of the outer beak like that. If a predator had gotten in there would have been carnage, we only have mink, raccoons, and birds of prey here. We do have some pretty nasty spiders here. I just can’t think what else could have done this to him. I’ll definitely keep up with the hand feeding softened feed and try the aspirin for pain relief.

I can't give you any advice Kris but it seems to me that you have a pretty good handle on his treatment and feeding.

All I can do is offer moral support and cheering from the sidelines. Go Kris! You are doing a great job!

 

[Kris5902]

How's he doing Kris?

To me it looks like he lost the outer layer of his beak, sort of like if you lose part of a fingernail. Hurts and is tender. He'll be sensitive for several days. I would probably just give him wet feed to eat and keep watch on him. That *should* harden up and mend unless he bumps it really good. I've had similar and they do eventually grow out as well - or at least mine have.

Thank you, that’s a relief! I Will continue to monitor him, and am happy to say as of tonight, aside from the mess he has made of his beak, he’s acting totally normally. Crowing, roosting alarming (Eagles), and wooing his girls just the same as normal! He has seemed a little down since his injury (guessing a combo of pain, Benadryl, and limited vision) but seems to be overall getting back to normal. The missing beak material was very worrisome for me though. Can’t wait until he’s back on the pellets though, the hand feeding is a little much for me right now, but he is worth it. I Love the rooster cuddles, but am limited in my available time right now

 

[Kris5902]

I can't give you any advice Kris but it seems to me that you have a pretty good handle on his treatment and feeding.

All I can do is offer moral support and cheering from the sidelines. Go Kris! You are doing a great job!

Thanks for the support, every new issue worries me a lot. And I’m so grateful for all the support and awesome people on this site. I can’t get a poultry vet here, but this is the next best thing. Experienced and knowledgeable people willing to share their experience... my chickens are healthier and happier for all the wisdom here!

 

[Britt712]

I just wish I had been home when the bite happened, and able to give him something for it sooner. Then he may not have self mutilated his beak trying to get relief. I’m a bite scratcher too, and highly reactive to them so I understand the pain.

Do you think he could have attempted to eat a stinging insect like a bee..? Might've caused the reaction maybe?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Can’t wait until he’s back on the pellets though, the hand feeding is a little much for me right now, but he is worth it. I Love the rooster cuddles, but am limited in my available time right now

Do you have a deeper dish/bowl you can put on a block or similar (raised up off the ground)?
Make him some wet mash (food+water, let soak for a while) and just let him at it. Likely the hens will eat it all first though LOL Even if he's tender, he should be able to manage "scooping" up some wet feed, just check him a couple of times a day to see that he's eaten something.

 

[Kris5902]

Do you think he could have attempted to eat a stinging insect like a bee..? Might've caused the reaction maybe?

Usually they are quite adept at eating even stinging/biting insects... I have been known to pick the occasional hen up and lift them so they can snag an “extra spicy” treat when it’s put a web in an inconvenient place for me... I don’t let them try to eat black widows, when I find those I relocate away from our living/ their free ranging areas. But it could very well have been a snack biting back, or something dangling from the roof of the pen.

 

[Kris5902]

Do you have a deeper dish/bowl you can put on a block or similar (raised up off the ground)?
Make him some wet mash (food+water, let soak for a while) and just let him at it. Likely the hens will eat it all first though LOL Even if he's tender, he should be able to manage "scooping" up some wet feed, just check him a couple of times a day to see that he's eaten something.

I have a collapsible red silicone dog bowl I’ve been using for his wet feed too. I figure it’s softer for his beak... but with hand feeding some of it
to him I know he’s actually getting it down. Then I put him in with it in my “bad rooster box” (a 2’ square cube of hardware cloth I use for catching or holding a chicken or so any very sick ones can have some outside time unmolested by predators or roosters) In the pen with his girls for a while so he has exclusive access to it. The girls do go crazy for the soggy feed when I pull the box, and he does a little (almost) tidbitting noise over it.

I’m down to 7 rescues and one 14mo old CX, and about 140 birds total (I’ve got some fostered out and just sold a couple batches so not an exact count) six full chicken tractors, one group of free ranging birds, and one smaller “hospital” tractor for the CX. Every time I think I’ve got all the health issues sorted... this one was totally out of left field though. He’s a big, healthy, gorgeous Rooster... great with his ladies, and very good about his job.

It looks a bit darker today, I’m hoping that’s a sign of healing. The weather is awful right now, rainy and miserable... so I’m waiting for a break in it to hand feed him.

 

[Kris5902]

Oh, and I observed him drinking when I did an evening water change in his tractor (keeping it as clean as I can for him to prevent infection!)