guinea keet with a badly splayed leg...

[pinkfox]

so my original 7 are doing great, but E's frined gave me 4 more, lost 2 of them the first night, dont know why...
the other 2 are still fine and are over a week now...
the problem is 1 of the 2 survivors has a seriously splayed leg...i THINK hes had it stuck someplace given it ayank and seriously twisted it and given how quickly birds heal its healed all wrong (when i noticed it it looked like the hip was completly dislocated thats how splayed it is)

he gets around ok, itsmore of a lift push shuffle, he uses his bad leg to push himself along and his wing as a crutch.
i tried to splint it...yeah not going to happen, it just pulls the other leg from straight underneath him and he cant move at all.
hes eating (nice full crop) drinking and his brooder mate is not picking on him or anthing and he doesnt seem to be in any pain...

so, can a guinea survive as a "pet" with a seriously gimpy leg?
i know hed probably never be able to free range fully wiht his flock mates and i doubt hell ever be able to properly perch, but i hate the idea of euthanizing him since he is trying so hard and otherwise doing so well... (hes smaller than his buddy but eating fine and gaining weight...
i hate to kill an otherwise fine animal, but i dont want him to seriously suffer later either...

if he can get by just pecking in the grass and being cooped up at night ect (i hope to coop them all at night) then ill happily let gimpy live his natural life out...

 

[Woodland Woman]

I had something similar happen to a chicken. It seemed ok at first but it never really thrived from that point.
It didn't grow as fast as the others and was often frustrated and noisy. I ended up having to put it down.

 

[Wannabefree]

I've had them that way. The key is to splint both legs together with a bandaid, allowing the cotton part in the center to rest between the legs, and hold them in the correct position. A simple splint on the one leg won't retrain the bad leg. One of my Del hens twisted her leg as a chick, and I can't even tell which one it was now. It's worth a try. If they are left to go on like that, it won't thrive.

 

[pinkfox]

that exactly what i did WBF, but the badly splayed leg is aparently the stronger leg because it just pulled his good leg from out beneath him and he couldnt get his feet under him.
gonna look up some other methods and see if theyres anythign i can do...if not i may have to do the hard thing...though as long as hes eating and moving i may give him another week or 2 just sothe other keet isnt alone, its not big enough to go out wiht the others yet :/
poor little guy, was gonna be a pretty pied too...

 

[Wannabefree]

Hmmm... maybe try splinting together the lower joint in the leg rather than at the hip? Or, is that the one you splinted?

 

[pinkfox]

yeh thats where i splinted
Im wondering if i can fashion something (vet wrap mabe) to secure the leg to the body in the right position with something to gently torsion the leg back into a normal angle, then tape the legs together in a standard splint...

looking at it its less splayed and more as if it just poped completly out and healed that way (i dont feel any popping or grinding when i move the leg but its definatly nto a "normal" angle...
might try and get pics for some visual input...id love to save the little guy if i can, hes ating and drinking and scoots around no problem...
mabe i ned to make him a guinea wheelchair lol.

 

[pinkfox]

not my image but this is what gimpies leg looks like

it literally just extends out almost perectly backwards (hence when taping the other leg just gets pulled out too)
i think the only way to "fix" this would be to immobilize the "hip" tight to the body to stop it kicking out backwards THEN splint the legs together...right?

 

[Wannabefree]

Yep. It has to be afixed to the body somehow. It usually only takes a week for it to correct. Sometimes less time than that.

 

[pinkfox]

oh good there is some hope then...going to see whats in my first aid box since i dont think duct tape over feathers is going to be apreciated LOL!

 

[Icu4dzs]

I had one like that too! It lived quite a while but never really "thrived" it ended up getting killed by one of the varmint attacks. The leg never healed. I had hatched it from the incubator so I just didn't gave the heart to destroy it. But it never really did well. It ate and drank ok though