Guinea Keet with white bumbs on legs, trouble walking

[fowltemptress]

Hi, I have a one week old guinea keet who's a little bit smaller than its broodmates and is having trouble walking. The keet sits a lot. It can walk and run, but it limps/stumbles while doing so - it's obviously painful to move. There are swollen white bumps all over its legs and feet. None of the other guineas are affected. Other than its legs, this guy looks like a normal keet. Anyone seen this before and know if it's contagious?

Oh yeah, forgot to say they're indoors in the tub right now, being fed game bird starter from the mfa (30 percent protein). Previous batches of guineas had the same setup with no issues. Never had problems with guineas before . . . they are the easiest things to hatch and raise - all you have to do is look at a guinea egg and it's practically guaranteed to hatch and raise itself - so I am completely thrown off by this.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I have not seen anything like that before.
Almost looks like blisters and pus under the skin. Could the Keet gotten into anything like disinfectant used to clean the brooder, gotten onto the heat plate and burned itself, etc.?
Notice any leg picking from the others or if this one is picking itself?
Ants? Any ants or some type of biting insects...

I'm tagging in @coach723 and @Eggcessive
I'm not sure who knows a lot about Guinea Fowl, perhaps @R2elk

No idea if it's contagious, but likely others would be showing similar symptoms, but there's not guarantee.

Just still rambling here - the bumps, do they feel hard or perhaps like pus which in fowl is like cheese?
Are you giving any poultry vitamins - I think I'd do that. Poultry Cell might be a good choice.

 

[fowltemptress]

No to all the questions in your first paragraph, but good thoughts to check for. I used a syringe earlier tonight to see the nature of the bumps, and they're filled with liquidy white pus - very fluid, and not at all like cheese. I can't find any description online that sounds like this in keets. I'll keep checking the others for any signs of the same problem and look into those poultry vitamins.

 

[coach723]

I too have never seen that before, almost looks like burns or frostbite. Do you have red ants/fire ants where you live? Bites/stings from them can look something like that. Or another biting/stinging insect, maybe. Epsom salts soaks might help also.

 

[Eggcessive]

I too thought of ant bites as a possibility. Quail and other birds get fatty tumors, lipomas or xanthomas (cholesterol deposits) over the body. I would be interested in removing one of those after disinfecting the skin, and having someone look at it under a microscope to look for white blood cells (pus) or fat cells. If it was pus, the quail Would be very sick with infection I would think. Here are a couple of articles I found:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...t-looks-to-be-like-fat-on-baby-quail.1250209/

https://www.mspca.org/angell_services/xanthoma-the-other-fatty-skin-mass/

 

[fowltemptress]

I sat down today with a scalpel and made an incision in one of the more prominent bumbs. I don't know if y'all have seen Dr. Pimple Popper, but it was exactly like a video of someone popping a cyst. I spent a good 20 minutes squeezing the pus out - mostly white liquid, with the occasional burst of clumpy stuff. Again, it was exactly like popping a cyst. I didn't work on more than one bump because the keet needed a break. I never did manage to drain it all. The keet is bright eyed, eating and drinking, not lethargic at all, or else I normally would have killed it by now to put it out of its misery.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I sat down today with a scalpel and made an incision in one of the more prominent bumbs. I don't know if y'all have seen Dr. Pimple Popper, but it was exactly like a video of someone popping a cyst. I spent a good 20 minutes squeezing the pus out - mostly white liquid, with the occasional burst of clumpy stuff. Again, it was exactly like popping a cyst. I didn't work on more than one bump because the keet needed a break. I never did manage to drain it all. The keet is bright eyed, eating and drinking, not lethargic at all, or else I normally would have killed it by now to put it out of its misery.

That's interesting.
I'm still not sure what would cause the *pus* under the skin like that. I've found nothing in my years of notes/saved material. So far nothing is ringing a bell with searches either.
If you work on more, let us know. Maybe we can learn along with you.

 

[fowltemptress]

Forgot to update: the keet died a couple days after my last post on here. I probably should have bagged it and sent it to a lab somewhere, but it's been hectic and I let things slip. The cysts kept getting bigger til the end, and if i could go back in time I would have just put the poor thing down right away and sent it off for testing. The rest of the guineas have been perfectly healthy with no sign of any issues. Sorry I can't be more informative.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Forgot to update: the keet died a couple days after my last post on here. I probably should have bagged it and sent it to a lab somewhere, but it's been hectic and I let things slip. The cysts kept getting bigger til the end, and if i could go back in time I would have just put the poor thing down right away and sent it off for testing. The rest of the guineas have been perfectly healthy with no sign of any issues. Sorry I can't be more informative.

Thank you for the update.

I'm sorry to hear about the Keet.