If you are unsure about your crippled keet (whether to let it live or kill it to avoid suffering) I would suggest posting a thread and letting others chime in to help with experience and opinions on each individual case.
This post is just to show an example of a crippled Guinea that is living a pretty full life to show that it can work fine in some cases - as something to consider that may save one or the other keet that starts life with some challenges. Sometimes they can do just fine with that!
This is the story of Forrest, Forrest Gump the Guinea.
We got Forrest in a box of keets from a hatchery in the mail. He was actually an extra, if you want, since they included one more than we paid for. All keets arrived well and lived. The box we picked up from the post office had a kind of wooden mesh floor that was non-slip and Forrest may have been injured during shipment by getting hung in the mesh maybe or may have been born with the deformed leg. Dunno.
When we posted pictures of him, some advised to kill him since he was deformed and may be suffering and may pass his condition on to offspring who would then also suffer. It is a reasonable concern. We went the other way with him, though, and tried to brace his little leg (he turned out to be a "he").
To make a long story short: we had many a success with played legs, even the Buff Dundotte keet in the photo below turned into a perfectly normal-legged bird after 10 days of tying the legs together so that the hocks were about 3/4" apart with vet wrap, but Forrest went through several versions of braces and never improved. He did not get worse either, but his leg always returned to the bent hock and curled toes that he had upon arrival. Too bad.
He never showed signs of suffering, though, and in fact ran like the wind, even with his braces on in the brooder box. This earned him the name Forrest, Forrest Gump.
Later he was one of the fastest males during the mating chase! I took pictures. You could not see his flailing leg until the camera froze the image - he was so fast he would just swoosh by you in pursuit of a competing male. He also was a great flyer and can be seen below on the roof steeple with his friends.
He is 7 years old now and has enjoyed many mealworms and millet and times out to free range with his buddies. He does have a girl-friend. Over the years his good foot has grown to be bigger and stronger than a normal Guinea foot, I guess because he is using it more. We do have to trim his nails a couple of times a year on the curled foot. He has slipped to the lower end of the pecking order which may partly be due to his handicap but one also has to say that we have younger males in the flock now and it may be due to that. Also noteworthy may be that he seems to be a very large male, judging by his head and neck, so he may be stronger than the average Guinea, which has helped him, I think.
As far as offspring: I don't think we had any more than our fair share of leg and toe issues over the years. Out of hundreds of keets we had 2 that had turned toes that did not straighten completely within a few days of the hatch. None that had a bum hock. There could still be genes that are being passed that may be harmful to future keets, of course, but I have not seen evidence of that in our flock. And maybe Forrest's genes are contributing to the strength of keets in the future also, since he is such a fighter and such a strong bird. Dunno.
Forrest is my avatar, too, by the way. Handsome guy! =]
I hope we have him many more years, but with Guineas you never know, of course. That is life with feathered friends, always a bit stressful and always testing your ability to let them be what they are and enjoy their little lives outside and let go when the time comes....
This one recovered fully:
First attempt to help Forrest:
Next step brace:
Still bad:
Never mind that. Forrest in full spring chase:
Forrest the flying Guinea (this roof is on a three story house - it is high):
Mr. Handsome Forrest, Forrest Gump in his prime:
Forrest today, August 17, 2020, 7 years old, with his guardian dogs:
This post is just to show an example of a crippled Guinea that is living a pretty full life to show that it can work fine in some cases - as something to consider that may save one or the other keet that starts life with some challenges. Sometimes they can do just fine with that!
This is the story of Forrest, Forrest Gump the Guinea.
We got Forrest in a box of keets from a hatchery in the mail. He was actually an extra, if you want, since they included one more than we paid for. All keets arrived well and lived. The box we picked up from the post office had a kind of wooden mesh floor that was non-slip and Forrest may have been injured during shipment by getting hung in the mesh maybe or may have been born with the deformed leg. Dunno.
When we posted pictures of him, some advised to kill him since he was deformed and may be suffering and may pass his condition on to offspring who would then also suffer. It is a reasonable concern. We went the other way with him, though, and tried to brace his little leg (he turned out to be a "he").
To make a long story short: we had many a success with played legs, even the Buff Dundotte keet in the photo below turned into a perfectly normal-legged bird after 10 days of tying the legs together so that the hocks were about 3/4" apart with vet wrap, but Forrest went through several versions of braces and never improved. He did not get worse either, but his leg always returned to the bent hock and curled toes that he had upon arrival. Too bad.
He never showed signs of suffering, though, and in fact ran like the wind, even with his braces on in the brooder box. This earned him the name Forrest, Forrest Gump.
Later he was one of the fastest males during the mating chase! I took pictures. You could not see his flailing leg until the camera froze the image - he was so fast he would just swoosh by you in pursuit of a competing male. He also was a great flyer and can be seen below on the roof steeple with his friends.
He is 7 years old now and has enjoyed many mealworms and millet and times out to free range with his buddies. He does have a girl-friend. Over the years his good foot has grown to be bigger and stronger than a normal Guinea foot, I guess because he is using it more. We do have to trim his nails a couple of times a year on the curled foot. He has slipped to the lower end of the pecking order which may partly be due to his handicap but one also has to say that we have younger males in the flock now and it may be due to that. Also noteworthy may be that he seems to be a very large male, judging by his head and neck, so he may be stronger than the average Guinea, which has helped him, I think.
As far as offspring: I don't think we had any more than our fair share of leg and toe issues over the years. Out of hundreds of keets we had 2 that had turned toes that did not straighten completely within a few days of the hatch. None that had a bum hock. There could still be genes that are being passed that may be harmful to future keets, of course, but I have not seen evidence of that in our flock. And maybe Forrest's genes are contributing to the strength of keets in the future also, since he is such a fighter and such a strong bird. Dunno.
Forrest is my avatar, too, by the way. Handsome guy! =]
I hope we have him many more years, but with Guineas you never know, of course. That is life with feathered friends, always a bit stressful and always testing your ability to let them be what they are and enjoy their little lives outside and let go when the time comes....
This one recovered fully:
First attempt to help Forrest:
Next step brace:
Still bad:
Never mind that. Forrest in full spring chase:
Forrest the flying Guinea (this roof is on a three story house - it is high):
Mr. Handsome Forrest, Forrest Gump in his prime:
Forrest today, August 17, 2020, 7 years old, with his guardian dogs:
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