Raccoon injured hen now she won't eat/drink

[kutra]

Last week a raccoon broke into my "raccoon proof" coop by breaking a skylight vent. The damage was three dead chickens and one injured chicken. Poor Percher almost had her head bit off but made it. Her comb and nares were badly damaged and her beak is now slightly misaligned (see photo). We keep her inside at night and in a separate run outside during the day. See is not that active but otherwise okay but she won't eat or drink on her own. We have been feeding her water with a eye dropper which she will swallow if it is put in her beak. We have given her a bit of food that way too but not much as we were expecting her to start eating on her own. It has been a week and her condition seems stable but she shows no interest in food or water. She can open her beak with out obvious pain.
Any ideas on what to do or what is wrong with her?

 

[Eggcessive]

If you have time to devote to working with her a great deal, you might be able to tube feed her to get calories in her until she can recover. With a damaged beak, it could be cracked, but if misaligned, she may need her food in a deep sided bowl, and possibly moistened like oatmeal. With her injury, it is also possible that she has suffered some brain damage, but it is worth a try to try and help her. Here are some links including one with videos on tube feeding:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/newsearch?search=go+team+tube+feeding
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/03/scissor-beak-aka-crossed-beak-what-it.html

 

[kutra]

Her beak show no signs of cracks. I was thinking her jaw might have been dislocated but on closer inspection it appears it is her top beak that is out of place. If you look at the photo you can see that the bottom beak is in alignment with her head and the top beak is pushed to the left. So maybe something is broken at the base of her top beak? As I mentioned her nares are badly damaged.
Her beak still appears to be functional certainly enough to drink water but she does not try. Thanks we might try the tube feeding.

 

[kutra]

It a bad picture but you can sort of see the damage to her nares.

 

[ten chicks]

For pain relief you can give her a low dose aspirin(81mg)or a regular aspirin(325mg)dose is 25mg per lb of body weight give orally(break into pieces or dissolve with a bit of water)or dissolve one 325mg aspirin per gallon of water.

Beak injuries are extremely painful,what i have done for beak injuries was aspirin for pain relief and hand fed soft foods for a couple of days. After that i gave feed mixed with water(so it resembles oatmeal)and reg feed,but placed feed on a pillow to lessen impact to beak during pecking(eating feed). Beak injuries can take a considerable time to heal.


Make sure nares are clear of any debris/discharge.

 

[kutra]

Thank you for the reply. Here is a better picture of the damages to her nares. It has been over a week and she does not seem to be in pain. I have not cleaned out what left of her nares for fear of doing more damage.
I will try the food on pillow trick.
As the end of the beak is undamaged but the top is out of alignment I believe there is some damage to the connection/support area of the beak under and behind the nares. Did any of your (or anyone else's) beak injuries have damage this deep? All the beak injuries I have seen online have been to the exposed part of the beak.

 

[Eggcessive]

The tube feeding may give her a chance to heal. Here is a recent thread about a chicken who lost most of her beak from a dog attack, and although the pictures are graphic, she was able to save the chicken's life with tube feeding until the chicken could learn how to eat: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/848424/plese-help-chickens-beak-got-bit-off

 

[kutra]

Update:
I was not able to easily get a large syringe for tube feeding. I did get a 5ml one from the drug store and I put a short piece of aquarium tube on it and feed her by squiring 2-3 ml of food at a time into her mouth which she swallows. It a bit messy but works.
It has been a week and a half and Percher is doing okay but she still shows no signs of trying to eat or drink by herself. Her beak does not seem that sensitive but it could be preventing her from pecking food but she should be able to drink without pain but she never tries to eat or drink. Putting food on a pillow did not help, she just does not show interest, I believe it is mental issue not a physical limitation.
I read in other threads people have experienced similar behavior then something switched and their bird started eating again. Does anyone have suggestions for getting a chicken to eat again who does not want to? For people who had switch flipped experience how long did it take?
Thank you everyone for your kind advice.

 

[whiteybird]

Quote:

Update:
I was not able to easily get a large syringe for tube feeding. I did get a 5ml one from the drug store and I put a short piece of aquarium tube on it and feed her by squiring 2-3 ml of food at a time into her mouth which she swallows. It a bit messy but works.
It has been a week and a half and Percher is doing okay but she still shows no signs of trying to eat or drink by herself. Her beak does not seem that sensitive but it could be preventing her from pecking food but she should be able to drink without pain but she never tries to eat or drink. Putting food on a pillow did not help, she just does not show interest, I believe it is mental issue not a physical limitation.
I read in other threads people have experienced similar behavior then something switched and their bird started eating again. Does anyone have suggestions for getting a chicken to eat again who does not want to? For people who had switch flipped experience how long did it take?
Thank you everyone for your kind advice.

That happened to me. Had a raccoon slash a RIR's leg and rip open her neck from the left shoulder to the back of her head...I could see her spine. It was gross and graphic, but she made it and happily limps around the run, still missing a bunch of feathers, but acting like nothing ever happened. That was back in early Sep.

It took me about a month before I decided I needed to tube feed her. I was trying to feed her by syringing food into her beak but it wasn't enough. I also used aquarium tubing, roughly equal to a Fr18 catheter, and a mix of large and small syringes. One 60ml I got from a feed store, one 30ml came with a marinade from the grocery store, and a bunch of 10mls ordered online for something else. It took her around TWO MONTHS to finally decide to eat on her own again. I think I got her to gain a whole pound. No idea why it took so long, and yes, it took up a lot of my time each day caring for her (thankfully I work from home), but it was as if she just woke up one day and said "Ok, I'll go back to being a chicken now."

 

[whiteybird]

I hear tube feeding is typically supposed to work within a week or two though...I think my bird just liked all the treats she was getting inside ;-)