On Thanksgiving morning one of our Guineas flew into the side of our house. I was in the room that she hit. I honestly thought I heard a gunshot. When I looked out my window I saw her flopping on the ground. I ran outside and found that there was a dent in our aluminum siding and some of the paint on her beak, that is how hard she hit!
She was now laying still but breathing and blinking. I gently picked her up and she lifted her head up and looked around a little. Based on that I assumed her neck was not broken. We put her in a straw lined dog crate and checked on her every hour or so. Within the first hour she was sitting upright like a guinea should. She slowly perked up and got better over the course of 24 hours. I checked her pupils at each check and they were always dilated evenly and about the same size as the other guineas.
Currently she moves strangely, she does not use her neck when she walks. She holds her head tight in a position you would see when they are laying down or roosting. I have seen her looking up, left and right. However I have yet to see her pecking at the ground. Additionally she staggers sideways every once in a while. She only tries to fly when scared and now flies poorly. Her wings seem to be fine, no breaks that I can detect. It seems to be more a coordination issue. She isn’t even roosting at night.
The guineas free range on my property as their job is to manage the bugs that eat our fruit trees, vegetables and berries. (We produce a large chunk of our own food) I have her in with my ducks right now as their pen is fully enclosed. Each night I have been putting her in a coop for an hour or so without the ducks and putting food in a raised feeder, otherwise the ducks do not let her get any food, they are piggies.
I have yet to see her eat or drink. I try to stay out of sight and just watch out of the corner of my eye as I know she is scared of me. All she does is walks over to the food and looks at it.
My thoughts are that she sprained her neck. Is that possible? Is it something else? When I hold her she seems ok with me moving her neck around. I do not feel and lumps, bumps or anything out of place when I feel her cervical spine.
Do you have any suggestions on supporting her? Or helping her to heal?
She was now laying still but breathing and blinking. I gently picked her up and she lifted her head up and looked around a little. Based on that I assumed her neck was not broken. We put her in a straw lined dog crate and checked on her every hour or so. Within the first hour she was sitting upright like a guinea should. She slowly perked up and got better over the course of 24 hours. I checked her pupils at each check and they were always dilated evenly and about the same size as the other guineas.
Currently she moves strangely, she does not use her neck when she walks. She holds her head tight in a position you would see when they are laying down or roosting. I have seen her looking up, left and right. However I have yet to see her pecking at the ground. Additionally she staggers sideways every once in a while. She only tries to fly when scared and now flies poorly. Her wings seem to be fine, no breaks that I can detect. It seems to be more a coordination issue. She isn’t even roosting at night.
The guineas free range on my property as their job is to manage the bugs that eat our fruit trees, vegetables and berries. (We produce a large chunk of our own food) I have her in with my ducks right now as their pen is fully enclosed. Each night I have been putting her in a coop for an hour or so without the ducks and putting food in a raised feeder, otherwise the ducks do not let her get any food, they are piggies.
I have yet to see her eat or drink. I try to stay out of sight and just watch out of the corner of my eye as I know she is scared of me. All she does is walks over to the food and looks at it.
My thoughts are that she sprained her neck. Is that possible? Is it something else? When I hold her she seems ok with me moving her neck around. I do not feel and lumps, bumps or anything out of place when I feel her cervical spine.
Do you have any suggestions on supporting her? Or helping her to heal?
