How to Treat Chicken Eye and Beak Injuries
Raising chickens sometimes requires treating injuries. Eye and beak injuries are not uncommon, especially when a predator attacks the coop. You can, in fact, take care of a blind chicken and learn how to feed a chicken with a broken beak — so don’t worry that your coop has suffered a devastating loss.
Chickens’ eyes are sometimes damaged during fights or predator attacks. A little pirate patch on a chicken would look silly, so cleaning the eye and keeping the chicken separated from the flock is about the best you can do. Clean eyes with a nonmedicated eyewash for pets or humans. A chicken will be fine if it’s blind in one eye, but if it’s blind in both eyes, you need to cage it if you decide to keep it.
Chickens’ beaks sometimes get broken or cut off in freak accidents. Missing beak portions don’t grow back. Depending on how much beak is left, the bird may or may not be able to eat normally. If a small amount is missing from the end of one or both beak halves, the bird will be fine. However, if large portions of either the top or bottom beak are gone, the bird will have great difficulty eating. It needs its beak to pick up feed (not to chew or crush it).
Try different sizes and shapes of feed to see what the bird is best able to eat. You can hand-feed the chicken by putting small amounts of feed at a time in its mouth or into the crop. The chicken should still be able to drink. We have even heard of people gluing portions of beaks back onto birds, and if the bird is a pet, it doesn’t hurt to try. If, however, the bird isn’t able to maintain a decent weight on its own, it’s probably more humane to destroy it.
Raising Chickens Glossary
broiler; broiler bird
Any chicken of a breed known or developed for meat; usually with deeper, larger breasts, a larger frame, and fast growth.
Raising Chickens Glossary
brooder
An enclosed area for chicks in the first few weeks of life; provides warmth and safety in the absence of a mother hen.
Raising Chickens Glossary
chiggers
A common external parasite of chickens (and humans) that feed on blood while injecting an irritant into the skin.
Raising Chickens Glossary
Coccidia
An internal parasite of chickens that lines the digestive tract and may cause serious problems.
Raising Chickens Glossary
coccidiosis
An infection by Coccidia.
Raising Chickens Glossary
coccidiostats
A medicine that controls the disease coccidiosis; often added to commercial chicken feed.
Raising Chickens Glossary
cockerel
A young male chicken.
Raising Chickens Glossary
County Extension agent
A county employee, sometimes called an educator, who is associated with a land-grant university in the same state and whose job is to take research-based knowledge and bring it to the general public.
Raising Chickens Glossary
crumbles
Medium-sized pieces of feed, actually broken-up pellets.
Raising Chickens Glossary
egg binding
The condition that occurs when a hen has an egg that she can’t pass from the oviduct for some reason.
Raising Chickens Glossary
fowl tick
An external parasite of chickens, common in the U.S. South, that feed on the chicken’s blood but do not stay attached.
Raising Chickens Glossary
gapeworm
A common internal parasite of free-range or pastured chickens, usually found in the trachea; may cause serious breathing problems.
Raising Chickens Glossary
grit
1. Small rocks or gravel; aids digestion for chickens. 2. Chicken feed supplement, made of crushed limestone and granite, available for purchase in feed stores for chickens requiring extra grit.
Raising Chickens Glossary
hybrid
A cross between two chicken breeds, usually created to take advantage of specific qualities such as increased breast meat.
Raising Chickens Glossary
layer; laying hen
Any chicken of a breed known or developed for laying eggs; will not sit on their own eggs.
Raising Chickens Glossary
lice
A common external parasite of chickens that feeds on feathers or shedding skin cells.
Raising Chickens Glossary
Raising Chickens Glossary
mite
A common external parasite of chickens that burrows into the chicken’s skin and feeds on chicken blood.
Raising Chickens Glossary
oocysts
Immature Coccidia that are passed in fecal matter. Coccidia is an internal parasite of chickens that lines the digestive tract.
Raising Chickens Glossary
parasite
Things that feed on a chicken’s blood, other body secretions, or its feathers; may be internal or external.
Raising Chickens Glossary
pellets
Long, narrow, cylinder-shaped pieces of compressed feed.
Raising Chickens Glossary
pullet
A young female chicken who has not started laying eggs.
Raising Chickens Glossary
roost
1. (noun) Any above-floor structure provided for a bird to perch on. 2. (verb) The act of perching on such a structure.
Raising Chickens Glossary
roundworm
A common internal parasite of chickens, usually found in the intestines but occasionally in the oviduct or even an egg
Raising Chickens Glossary
shelter-and-run unit
A form of chicken housing that combines an indoor, protected area with an outside enclosure.
Raising Chickens Glossary
Raising Chickens Glossary
tapeworm
A common internal parasite of chickens, usually found in the intestines and usually considered harmless.
Raising Chickens Glossary
vent; vent area
The common opening for feces in chickens.
Raising Chickens Glossary
vet wrap
A bandage, often used with animals, that sticks to itself.
Raising Chickens Glossary
zoning variance
A formal agreement with the governing body of an area to allow one individual or entity to deviate from the restrictions of a zoning area.
Raising Chickens Glossary
zoning; zoning area
1. (noun) An area or district with specific restrictions or rules about the types of buildings and activities that can take place there. 2. (adjective) Of or about the restrictions required due to the zoning area.
