Guinea x chicken hybrid grow-along

[Lacy Duckwing]

Unfortunately Ember although is doing well, still eating/drinking/growing, her feet and twisting leg bones are getting worse. I suspect before long the feet will cause more of an issue once s/he is fully grown, or perhaps before then. (of note I put Ember up here, they didn't jump up on their own).


View attachment 3567920

Poor bird. Is it possible that they could be removed by surgery and it do better? Like removed from the hicks down? It might not be the best option, but Ember might be able to get around a little better.

 

[Lanfear]

Poor Ember! I hope she can learn to compensate for her legs, maybe.

So far so good - s/he's now jumping up on the roost on her own, but I feel the humerus bones are slowly twisting more.

Poor bird. Is it possible that they could be removed by surgery and it do better? Like removed from the hicks down? It might not be the best option, but Ember might be able to get around a little better.

I did think about that, but A couple years ago I had a chicken called PutPut - as a chick she roosted on my heated water bowl over winter lost both her legs. I felt soooo bad. She was a house chicken for almost a year, but never learned to walk on her stubs. She ended up seeming depressed (she couldn't be with my other chickens they harassed her and of course males were being males). She lost interest in her treats, and stopped her happy talking to me, so I put her down I just worry of that same scenario again. I even built her a support cart but it all it did was help keep her upright, tried 3DS printing feet for her but she couldn't never figure the balance thing out. Maybe Ember could do better I don't know, but given they often have poor health I'd worry about going through all that, s/he not being able to walk, or dying before their first birthday anyways. I can't have house birds anymore - my latest pups have high prey drive so it wouldn't work.

Pictures of my PutPut who I still really miss

 

[Lanfear]

Today Ember saw the vet, I feel a little helpless with her case. Vet doesn't think amputation likely to contribute to quality of life - she will check with some other vets but likely means putting her down in future as her quality of life will worsen.

They did make some booties for her that are a little bit more sturdier and she's using them. The vet thinks the left foot isn't fixable. The right one MIGHT be able to be semi-normal (Ember's "normal" so flat and curled toes but at least toes not pointing up, not that of a normal foot). So for now we wait and see, and see what the other vets might say.

 

[AntiqueB]

Poor Ember. She looks happy now, though, even with her clodhoppers on, as my mom used to say.

Get better, Ember! We're all rooting for you!

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Today Ember saw the vet, I feel a little helpless with her case. Vet doesn't think amputation likely to contribute to quality of life - she will check with some other vets but likely means putting her down in future as her quality of life will worsen.

They did make some booties for her that are a little bit more sturdier and she's using them. The vet thinks the left foot isn't fixable. The right one MIGHT be able to be semi-normal (Ember's "normal" so flat and curled toes but at least toes not pointing up, not that of a normal foot). So for now we wait and see, and see what the other vets might say.View attachment 3582466

The shoes don't look too bad if Ember is fine with them. I hope you don't have to put her down. (I see you're calling Ember a her. Have you gotten her tested yet to see what gender she is?)

 

[Lanfear]

No I haven't gotten DNA results yet - I've reached out to 3 labs and they either haven't responded or have said no they can't DNA test. I accidentally refer to her as a her and often go back to edit comments but forgot ahaha.

The boots appear to be helping keep in place and for now it's okay as she's in a large pen with the other youngsters (don't want the other guineas/chickens picking on them until closer to full size) but will be hard to keep the booties dry once out and about in another month or so. The other thing I found too even as a youngster is that the foot braces I made kept feet more or less in place but as soon as you take them off they just revert back to the awful positioning; we'll see how she does with these as they're more solid, but at least they're padded inside so should offer some relief while walking.

Here are some updated photos of her feet prior to the booties so you can see just how bad they've gotten. In the second photo they're completely palm up behind 'her'.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

No I haven't gotten DNA results yet - I've reached out to 3 labs and they either haven't responded or have said no they can't DNA test. I accidentally refer to her as a her and often go back to edit comments but forgot ahaha.

The boots appear to be helping keep in place and for now it's okay as she's in a large pen with the other youngsters (don't want the other guineas/chickens picking on them until closer to full size) but will be hard to keep the booties dry once out and about in another month or so. The other thing I found too even as a youngster is that the foot braces I made kept feet more or less in place but as soon as you take them off they just revert back to the awful positioning; we'll see how she does with these as they're more solid, but at least they're padded inside so should offer some relief while walking.

Here are some updated photos of her feet prior to the booties so you can see just how bad they've gotten. In the second photo they're completely palm up behind 'her'.View attachment 3582960View attachment 3582961

That's too bad nobody will do it so far.

Poor bird. The feet look really bad. Even if the boots aren't improving her feet but are still making it a bit more comfortable for Ember, then they're probably still good. When everyone is bigger, too bad you couldn't keep a few friends with her and keep her in a coop so her boots don't get muddy.

 

[Lanfear]

That's too bad nobody will do it so far.

Poor bird. The feet look really bad. Even if the boots aren't improving her feet but are still making it a bit more comfortable for Ember, then they're probably still good. When everyone is bigger, too bad you couldn't keep a few friends with her and keep her in a coop so her boots don't get muddy.

The problem with this is I don't feel being kept indoors full time offers much quality of life. I bet she feels strain wearing the boots because it's forcing the feet to be in a direction they don't want to normally grow at, so whether it makes it better or worse for her I'm not sure. I'm just going to leave them on for a week straight as long as they don't get dirty, maybe even two weeks and then see if it's had any impact once removed. Another thing to consider too is chickens help cool off using feet - She was panting when I brought my inlaws in to see her (though I think it was combo of stress too as she didn't pant before), so having her feet covered may be making it harder for her to keep cool on hotter days.

The vet's consult with other vets was euthanasia as well.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

The article about Miracle said that males live longer than females, so in this case I hope Ember is a male. Have you tried this place to get a DNA test?
https://orders.iqbirdtesting.com/

 

[Lanfear]

The article about Miracle said that males live longer than females, so in this case I hope Ember is a male. Have you tried this place to get a DNA test?
https://orders.iqbirdtesting.com/

Ember may be capable of living longer however it seems doubtful it would be humane to keep 'her' alive as her deformities worsen with growth.

I haven't checked with them yet I don't think. But at same time I hesitate to do it if "she's" going to be euthanized within a month kind of thing. I'm so bummed, I would have gone through with amputation if it would be considered to increase her quality of life but I suspect it's one thing to lose a single foot, but both like Putput isn't great. I've tried posting in different places hoping someone might have had a similar foot issue and solution but it seems feet issues like hers are very rare and/or they're put down early so the deformity hasn't had a chance to become so severe.