- Thread starter
- #21
Well, a strange sort of thing happened.
Kua managed to scratch her beak patch off again, but I was ready with some low odor superglue this time. I got it glued back on her and she was just as mad as could be! She was absolutely furious (with the beak patch) and as soon as the glue had set and I let her go, she was scratching at it, beak-wiping, etc. I tried to calm her down but she scolded me and ran off, before purposefully using a claw to rip the patch off again as I was unable to get to her in time.
Well. The superglue worked. It worked so well that I could see her beak tore off WITH the patch!
Horrified, I went to restrain her. "Oh no, another emergency trip to the vet," I thought, wincing because of how much it must have hurt her and how much it'd hurt my bank account.
And that little devil... wouldn't you know, she grabbed the beak patch with her own beak still glued inside it and took off running, doing the excited "I found a Really Cool Food and it's Mine!!" cluck!
This should have been my first indicator that she was not in absolute agony.
Still, I had the adrenaline going and was horrified yet. I managed to get the beak from her, and held her gently (with many clucks of protest) to examine her. Amazingly... only the outer sheath of the beak had come off! I closely looked her beak over, especially where the break was only a week ago. You can see that the beak is discolored but it is already healed over, smooth.. not even scabby! I cannot fathom how it healed so quickly-- genuinely, when I rushed her to the vet last week the wound was deep and terrible. Even our veterinarian said so. All I can figure is that Kua had a few things going for her... 1. She is young and still growing like crazy and so her body was quick to repair the damage, 2. The beak patch and antibiotic treatments kept the location clean, stable, and able to heal faster, and 3. I have them (my chickens) on a good food. Maybe? It's hard to say.
So, her upper beak is a bit shorter than her lower (not so much that she looks like a debeaked hen, but she still has a slight underbite). Because of the damage, it's hard to say if it will grow back, but I think it might. She is eating really well for us and pecking things nearly as hard as a healthy chicken.
I will try and get some photos in the daylight tomorrow!
Kua managed to scratch her beak patch off again, but I was ready with some low odor superglue this time. I got it glued back on her and she was just as mad as could be! She was absolutely furious (with the beak patch) and as soon as the glue had set and I let her go, she was scratching at it, beak-wiping, etc. I tried to calm her down but she scolded me and ran off, before purposefully using a claw to rip the patch off again as I was unable to get to her in time.
Well. The superglue worked. It worked so well that I could see her beak tore off WITH the patch!
Horrified, I went to restrain her. "Oh no, another emergency trip to the vet," I thought, wincing because of how much it must have hurt her and how much it'd hurt my bank account.
And that little devil... wouldn't you know, she grabbed the beak patch with her own beak still glued inside it and took off running, doing the excited "I found a Really Cool Food and it's Mine!!" cluck!
This should have been my first indicator that she was not in absolute agony.
Still, I had the adrenaline going and was horrified yet. I managed to get the beak from her, and held her gently (with many clucks of protest) to examine her. Amazingly... only the outer sheath of the beak had come off! I closely looked her beak over, especially where the break was only a week ago. You can see that the beak is discolored but it is already healed over, smooth.. not even scabby! I cannot fathom how it healed so quickly-- genuinely, when I rushed her to the vet last week the wound was deep and terrible. Even our veterinarian said so. All I can figure is that Kua had a few things going for her... 1. She is young and still growing like crazy and so her body was quick to repair the damage, 2. The beak patch and antibiotic treatments kept the location clean, stable, and able to heal faster, and 3. I have them (my chickens) on a good food. Maybe? It's hard to say.
So, her upper beak is a bit shorter than her lower (not so much that she looks like a debeaked hen, but she still has a slight underbite). Because of the damage, it's hard to say if it will grow back, but I think it might. She is eating really well for us and pecking things nearly as hard as a healthy chicken.
I will try and get some photos in the daylight tomorrow!
