Top beak is broken in 2 places

[Iluvmypeeps]

Hoping all goes well for you, please do keep us updated!

 

[feathersnuggles]

She has had one normal looking poop, while in the dog carrier. This evening she ate another scrambled egg with layer crumbles and yogurt mixed in -- the consistency of pudding. It was a little more than 1/2-cup serving, and I mounded it high in a dish so she could eat it without hitting her beak on the bowl. She ate everything. Then, she also drank some water. I cleaned her beak & rinsed it in saline solution.

Now she's back in the carrier, settled on the straw for the night, nice & quiet. She chirped at me, a little, when I walked by. I'm hoping tomorrow she can spend a couple hours with her flockmates outside.

 

[feathersnuggles]

Well, that was FAST! Her beak still looks bad, but she's back to using it almost like normal. Woo hoo!

Here's what happened since my last post...

Next morning I took her out of the carrier & tried coaxing her to eat a mushy meal, but she refused. So, I put her outside with the rest of the flock, free-ranging, and she hopped into the coop and laid an egg! It was small and shell was covered with calcium-bead deposits but I chalked it all up stress. She free-ranged during the day, dug holes with her claws but did not use her beak. She drank lots of water and took a l-o-n-g dust-bath. Mid-day, her crop was empty; she refused a mushy meal then, but ate about 1/2 c. of it at night just before she roosted with the flock. Twice, during the day, I washed her beak with saline solution.

Today, early a.m. I took her out of the coop & fed her a small mushy meal inside. Then she free-ranged the rest of the day, laying another normal egg. Towards late afternoon, I checked her crop and it was pretty empty, so I offered her another soft meal. She didn't want it, but when I offered her some torn up pieces of chickweed and miners lettuce, she gobbled them and started chirping at me. So, I fed her little bits of fresh greens for about 1/2 hour. She started using her beak to pull the greens from my hand, so I thought, why not, and tried a couple of big old black oil sunflower seeds with shells.... Amazingly, she grabbed those up quickly - just like old times - pounding hard on my hand with her beak!

The Beak's Back!!

I'll keep my eye on the broken tip and trim it when it starts getting ragged. At this point, I'm not sure there's anything else I need to do, other than keep checking it for signs it's healing.

 

[Chicken Boo]

Good News!!!!!!

 

[feathersnuggles]

Another update.

About a week ago, I noticed that the ragged part of her beak was gone - I guess it must have broken completely off when she was cleaning her beak or something. Today I noticed the top part of the beak is becoming white, like the underlying hard part is regrowing. And the tip seems to be hard again, at least the exposed flesh has hardened and she's using the beak to feed, etc. She still favors it and protects it, a little. Like, I noticed she doesn't peck at the ground as much as she used to. But there's no infection, that I can tell.

 

[Noble Rooster]

Quote:
Hi Feathersnuggles, I was wondering how your girl is doing and how long it took her to heal? It sounds like she was making great progress. One of mine managed to partially rip the "nail" part of her upper beak off from the base yesterday (no idea how -- found her like that when I did night check and there were no other signs of injury or a fight, or getting caught in something). Luckily the underlying structure is intact (no broken bone, it bled but not too horribly). Now the beak is sort of dislodged to the side, like a hangnail, but she can eat soft things and even grabbed a small slug when I had her outside before. We've been debating about whether to superglue/epoxy it into place, and based on other posts about similar injuries it seems like that might be the way to go. Also, I was glad to see your girl could basically remain with her pals -- mine is not thrilled about being isolated with me in the house right now and to the extent she can be back with her gang once everything is stabilized, the better I think it will be for her morale. Did you have any trouble with the other ones picking at the beak?

 

[Slater1995]

Quote:
We actually clip our chickens beaks to minimize pecking. Ours are not free range and they tend to pick at each other. The bottom break should be clipped with nail clippers and you can even file it smooth. Since the bottom beak will be longer for a little while make sure she has food that has enough depth that she can get her beak down in it to eat. Drinking should be fine, you just want to make sure she can get food ok. If you leave the beak on the end alone, it may get caught on something and get worse or just break off. I would not want to take the chance with such a beautiful girl. I would clip it off and file it smooth. It will grow back. We have to trim ours every two months so I would think in about 4 months, you won't even notice it.

Hope she gets better soon.

Teresa

 

[feathersnuggles]

Quote:
No troubles with the others. They didn't seem to notice her beak was broken. Mine had a hangnail, too, at the beak tip. I had hoped it would stay on and protect the underlying flesh, but it didn't stay long. I can't remember how long, but it was definitely just a few days before that thing came completely off on its own. I just happened to notice it was gone and that the bare flesh was exposed. That worried me, at first. But she recovered pretty quickly. It was oh probably about a full month before I could see that she wasn't favoring her beak any more. She remained top of the pecking order, throughout. When I gave treats, she would attempt to jump in, but actually she stood more to the side and made soft whistling noises at me so that I would hand-feed her. While she was healing, it was easier for her to grab food from my hand, than from a hard dish or from the ground.

Sounds like yours has a very similar injury to mine. Your description of the break, hangnail dislodged to the side, and how it didn't bleed much, is a near match. I would stay away from the glue, use saline wash for a few days and keep it cleaned, if you want. Help her eat soft food at first, and once she's back to dry, give her a deep dish so she can scoop without banging the bottom with her sensitive beak.

My guess is she got her beak caught in the 1/2-inch hardware cloth that surrounds their run. Maybe trying to catch an insect? IDK, but it seemed like the right shape & size for that.

Good luck to you!! I'm pretty certain yours will mend like mine did. Today you can't tell that Carmen had a broken beak - it's beautiful & hard, straight & lustrous. Just keep an eye out for any infection or swelling, in the first few days.

 

[Noble Rooster]

Quote:
Thank you, Feathersnuggles! I'm so glad your girl made a full recovery and was able to be herself throughout. My girl's remaining beak came off today just like you said -- she was actually in a nest box to lay and I think it might have come off while she was tucking everyone else's eggs under herself. She's definitely uncomfortable but still eats from my hand and there was no additional bleeding. I have her in a separate crate right next to the coop so everyone can see and hear each other but she doesn't have to put up with shenanigans (or the other ones eating her mushy food!). I still have no idea what caused this though it's possible that she was trying to get a bug through the hardware cloth as well. It's always something, right?

Thanks again for your help!!!!