Tongue now outside beak...Not sure what to do

[chickenzoo]

The tongue needs to be put back in.. If you can somehow open his mouth and with tweezers lift up under the muscle that holds his tongue base and pull it back inside. Then you may have to stitch up the small hole that it got stuck through..... Poor boy.

 

[klmclain1]

You know... if he's drooling, then there's still an opening! Right?

 

[MonicasGarden]

Ok, I will not put it off any more. After work, I will get my boyfriend to help me and we will do surgery... Wish me luck...

 

[yinzerchick]

Good Luck!! What a strange thing... Never saw or heard of anything like that. Wishing you steady hands and nimble fingers! Good luck again!

 

[klmclain1]

And PLEASE tell us how it goes!

 

[MonicasGarden]

Well, we decided to cull this Rooster.

I learned that I shouldn't wait so long to try to fix something. When I went to go try to put it in I noticed that the tongue had swollen and looked sort of funky...so instead of putting this poor guy through anything tramatic I decided to do what was best. On the bright side, I guess I was getting over run with too many roosters anyway... He will be missed though...

Thank you to everyone with you support and helpful advice! I love this site!

 

[klmclain1]

Sorry to hear this..but it was probably for the best! I'm still baffled as to WHY his tongue came out in the first place!

 

[ajoh37]

This exact same thing happened with one of our young hens this evening. We were able to get her tongue back through the hole into her mouth, but we have no idea how to stitch it up without holding her so tight that we injure her. Trying to get the tongue back through was hard enough. It definitely looked like it was broken. I think I could see bent bone in her tongue.
She ate a whole scrambled egg afterward and I gave her some water and probiotics in a syringe. I washed the wound with bactine and slathered it with coconut oil. No idea how this happened. This was the only thread we could find with ANY info!

 

[YorkshireChickens]

I just wanted to post about our experience as we have recently had a hen who has had this exact same issue and we were completely at a loss with with to do with her. Fortunately, she saw a really good vet and is now fixed up and sorted! So I wanted to post for the next poor sucker who has to deal with this issue because it is so rare and a real head scratcher!

Our lovely hen, Ginger, appeared with this weird thing below her beak. At first I thought it was a growth and her normal vet didn't have a clue! I then posted on a chicken fb page and someone commented that it could be her tongue. This was a real shock but then found three other posts on back yard chickens who had the same issue, but sadly no update. So it is possible but rare. We eventually managed to find a lovely vet who specialises in unusual and exotic pets - she was still very confused as we couldn't find a hole under her beak. After a bit of gentle prodding around she eventually found a tiny hole in her neck!!! The vet recommend her sharp tongue could have pierced the skin of her neck and worked its way outside (see picture drawn by vet). She said the barbs at the base of a chicken's tongue probably made it impossible for her to pull her tongue back through the hole and so it was stuck!

She was most worried about infections and that she was probably in quite a bit of discomfort, mainly because of the barbs. So we agreed to put her under general and get the tongue moved back into place and stitch the hole back up. £300 later and Ginger is now back home, recovering well! Hopefully she has many more happy years of life ahead of her!

Bottom line, if your chicken ever gets their tongue stuck under their beak, take them to an avian vet (a normal vet will not know enough) and expect to pay a fair amount to get it fixed. Do not attempt to do it yourself, it would not be possible and would cause them a great deal of pain. The vet said it was very fiddly and had to be done under general because the hole was so small and heals fast around the base of the tongue.

Hope this helps the next person who has to deal with it.