Yesterday afternoon as I went out to feed the chickens, I was surprised to see Artemis already on his roost in the coop, but didn't think all that much of it. I filled the food bowls and dished out some snacks to all the girls and then, what I did find funny, was the fact that Artemis didn't come for his share. I went up to him where he was sitting on the roost, and horrors above horrors, I saw that the top half of his beak was almost totally ripped off, with his palette exposed.
I gently picked him up and brought him inside for a closer inspection and my heart almost stopped as I saw the extent of the damage. I was in such shock that I never got a pic of the broken beak before I repaired it, but managed to take some photos after he had settled down a bit.
He was surprisingly calm as I handled him. I first of all pressed his palette back into place and then put the loose beak into place. I usually have some biodegradable surgical gauze in the house, but for lack of that I cut a little piece off a teabag and placed it on top of a small dab of glue I had placed on the join. I held it in place for a couple of minutes and then dolloped some more glue on top, holding him while I waited for about half an hour for the glue to dry.
I used the quickset glue where you mix two of the tubes together. It takes longer to dry but gives a gooey mix which doesn't flow, as I didn't want it to flow into his mouth. He seemed to know that I was helping him as he sat quietly on my lap all the time I fiddled.
I don't actually know what happened, but the only thing I can think is that he and Chook, my other rooster, were having a fight through the fence of Chook's coop (they're separated exactly for that reason!) and that, somehow, his beak must've gotten caught in the fence.
He was a bit weary of me this morning when I went to check on him and didn't seem worse for the wear. He did take a couple of snacks from me before offering some to his girls and healthily crowing away in between, letting Chook know that he was still around! I'm a bit worried that the glue might fall off due to the natural oils in his beak, so I will be keeping a close watch over the next couple of days
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