Raccoon attack this morning! Broken beak, please help!!!

[ZakoHero]

Here are a couple new pics that show the injury a bit more. It must be akin to having a fingernail torn off, but on her little face! It must be horrible when your face is also your "hands". I saw her bump her beak a few times, then she reacts by opening her mouth wider, like, "ouch!"






She doesn't look it, but she's much happier here, having just had many long drinks of lukewarm water. Her little beard is all wet.

Yes!!!!Shes good again!!!!

 

[Nambroth]

Oh gosh, your poor girl! Fortunately, the break was down low on the beak and only seemed to break off the outer 'shell' of the beak. Still painful for her though, of course! There are nerves in there. When my Kua broke hers, it was a much deeper break closer to her skull and for a while I was really worried.. eating and drinking seemed to hurt her so much! In my case, because it was severe, I'm glad to have gone to the vet as they prescribed metacam, which is a painkiller. Getting it INTO the chicken with an injured beak was another set of problems, but it did help Kua get past those first few super painful days.

It sounds like your little lady is past the worst of the pain, but it will be sore for a while. You might find that she is unusually picky, even with 'favorites'. Just keep after her and as long as she's eating, she should be okay. If you have a postal or kitchen scale you can even weigh her if you are concerned about her dropping weight. When Kua broke hers, she was temporarily not competitive for food, and when I put her back outside she was driven away from the food, so your girl may need some extra care as she learns to adapt and mesh back in with the flock. If you can, put her outside on the warmest foretasted night after she is eating better for you. I find that putting them out on the roost is easier to mix them back in, as they all wake up together and seem to think "oh, maybe I was dreaming that she was gone in the first place!", haha!!

Her beak will grow back to normal within a month or two! It is not high or deep enough to have damaged the tissue that generates the beak's growth.

 

[Funky Chooks]

Oh gosh, your poor girl! Fortunately, the break was down low on the beak and only seemed to break off the outer 'shell' of the beak. Still painful for her though, of course! There are nerves in there. When my Kua broke hers, it was a much deeper break closer to her skull and for a while I was really worried.. eating and drinking seemed to hurt her so much! In my case, because it was severe, I'm glad to have gone to the vet as they prescribed metacam, which is a painkiller. Getting it INTO the chicken with an injured beak was another set of problems, but it did help Kua get past those first few super painful days.

It sounds like your little lady is past the worst of the pain, but it will be sore for a while. You might find that she is unusually picky, even with 'favorites'. Just keep after her and as long as she's eating, she should be okay. If you have a postal or kitchen scale you can even weigh her if you are concerned about her dropping weight. When Kua broke hers, she was temporarily not competitive for food, and when I put her back outside she was driven away from the food, so your girl may need some extra care as she learns to adapt and mesh back in with the flock. If you can, put her outside on the warmest foretasted night after she is eating better for you. I find that putting them out on the roost is easier to mix them back in, as they all wake up together and seem to think "oh, maybe I was dreaming that she was gone in the first place!", haha!!

Her beak will grow back to normal within a month or two! It is not high or deep enough to have damaged the tissue that generates the beak's growth.

Hi! Thanks for dropping by. My little lady appears to be just fine, if not happy. Barring an infection of course, I think she'll get along great in a few days time. My main concern now is that I hope she adapts to her "new peck" soon, as she can't target food-- really at all yet. I think in a day or two as the pain will subside, it should improve. I got her to drink again this evening, and she spent about 5 minutes just drinking. Clearly she was waiting until she just couldn't take it anymore, poor dear.

I'm so encouraged to know she will probably be good as new in a few weeks time. I also want to say one more time, not to sound overly dramatic or whatever, but yesterday-- searching this site and getting help here was soooo helpful. But specifically, having just read about Kua, I wasn't freaked out. I was frustrated at first, (getting everything ready quickly to deal with 6 panicked chickens to assess damage-- always a fun way to spend the wee hours of the morning!!!

) but I was able to just deal with the problem in a quick fashion and without overly stressing my bird or myself, for that matter. After all, I hadn't even had my morning coffee!

Anyway, I plan on passing it on if I can.

PS-- Sometime recently I saw the video of Kua you took trying to eat your fingers. What an adorable little lady, and of course that was post-beak-break, wasn't it? Amazing how fast she recovered.

 

[taterbug41]

Eat more coon that will stop them from catching chickens lol I actually tried some the other day and it was really good..

 

[Funky Chooks]

**Update**​

Here's my little patient, who is much improved. She is back to her old self, except eats more slowly right now. My understanding is that given about 3 weeks time she should be recovered completely. I'll try to remember to post another update.

If a similar injury happens to one of yours, stop the bleeding, keep warm and stable and feed soft foods for at least 3-4 days worked for us. See Nambroths post about her hen as well for more information. As you can see, the injured part seems to at have at least become like a callous, so doesn't seem to hurt unless she pecks something hard. I have not seen her react like she is in pain for days though.

Thanks again Backyard chickens!~ Mrs. Beasley thanks you too!

 

[Nambroth]

She is looking great! In a month or three you'll never know it happened.
When Kua's beak broke so deep, her beak did grow back to be slightly deformed; it was flatter on top like a spatula. She seems to realize this and wears it down via stropping (the side to side beak-swipe they do to clean the beak) on rocks and things. Her beak looks normal now and has for at least 8 months.

 

[LaLa Chickie]

My Madonna had a beak broken just under her nasal passages. I used nail glue the brush on type to hold it in place. She kinda rolled her eyes from the fumes, but it worked. I say it stayed on for a couple years. She was about 11yrs old when that happened. Some time later, she ripped it off again, this time showed skin underneath, like a fingernail had been torn off. It was so raw. I put Neosporin on it and I hand fed her with a mix of her crumbles and yogurt, she likes the strawberry yogurt. I mashed it all together and found a cookie press that I could easily get a good amount to feed her. She was hand fed for about 3 days and when the bed of the beak had dried enough, she was able to feed herself again. The bottom beak is the one that she scoops her water and feed with, so it worked out really well. I was so surprised to see how beautiful a new top beak grew back. I posted the first day the tip was raw and then 3 weeks later.. She is doing very well and thankfully hasn't broken it again.She is now 13 going on 14 yrs and still lays eggs now and then...We love her!