Help- my male guinea is not walking- what's wrong?

[bethgwd]

I noticed my male guinea limping for a couple of days! Nothing has attacked him. Today, he is laying on the floor of the coop and can hardly get up! I picked him up and checked his wings and legs and they look fine! Any ideas of what could have happened??
Thank you

 

[JoeCole]

My Guinee hen can bearly walk, she is only 11 weeks old. There seems to be no external injury, her vent feathers were a little pasty so I soaked her in warm water in the kitchen sink, boy was she thirsty. Poor thing, I don't know what's wrong with her. For 2 weeks she spent most of her time alone under the big pecan tree; I thought she was sitting on eggs, but she kept moving every other day. Today I found her in the middle of the yard and she attempted to get away by flapping her wings and crawling I approached her. She only moved about a foot from me. Could she be egg bound, she must of dragged herself out there. Other than that she seems healthy?

 

[PeepsCA]

She's too young to be egg bound at only 11wks old. If there are no obvious injuries, or something like sipped tendons on the back of her hocks going on with her legs then my guess would be that she has a nutritional imbalance going on... what have you been feeding her besides letting her free range? IMO, at 11wks old she needs to be on a grower feed, with at least 20% protein in it. I'd keep her caged/crated near the flock for a while, and add poultry vitamins to her water, plus feed her a good high protein grower feed... with things like chopped hard boiled or scrambled eggs, meal worms and minced raw liver/organ meat as treats (for extra protein) and see how she does.

Good luck with her, hope she recovers.

 

[JoeCole]

Appreciate your comments Peepsca. She is the only female among 5 free ranging guinees, the males are all doing fine. The guinees have been eating bugs and plants on my 10 acre fenced in farm. She's been in my kitchen in a clear straw lined tube for 3 days now and seems perky and alert, but is very quiet. Today I put her out side under a big shady bush with lots of tall green grass to eat; figure she needs some greens too. For the past couple of days I've been feeding her grains, pellets, high calcium/22% protein crumbles and a bowl of fresh water. She seems to have no problem eating. Thought I'd put her outside today so the others can visit her and chat for a while. I'll give her some hard boiled eggs and cooked chicken liver with some of your other suggestions and see what happens. Oh, she can stand up, but does so only for a few seconds and then lays flat again, but seems to have issues using her feet more than anything. Thanks, will get back with you on her progress. Very much appreciated.

 

[FowlObsessed]

Im very curious as to how things worked our with your lame guinea? I have the same situation it sounds like. All of a sudden yesterday one of my roosters was randomly laying down in the yard and not going along with the flock. Later I noticed him walking very gingerly just about on his middle toes. He layed down in the yard for a huge thunderstorn and eventually made his way back to the coop. They have been free ranging for a few weeks now and were last falls hatch. What did you do that seemed to work? Any help would be great!

 

[JoeCole]

FowlObsessed

Sorry about the delayed answer, was having problems with my Desk Top PC, using my lap top was the only way to get back to you.

Originally, I had 5 guinea's to start off with, but ended up with 24 total by the end of last year. The one that couldn't walk died 3 days later, it was as if she was completely unable to use her legs, it was sad to see her drag her body across the yard, and I have no idea what caused this to happen.

Also, there was a male guinea that went around limping for a few months, I believe the cause of that was a wood board laying on the ground with nails sticking out of it, which I promptly got rid of. He healed up afterwards.

I have 10 acres with an 8 foot fence all around it; even though you'd think this would be enough protection from predators, it wasn't good enough. I lost 19 of the 24 guineas in one years time to a two possum attacks, but most of the attacks were owl, and hawk related.

I lost most of the guineas in 2014, this year, however the free ranging chickens have suffered fewer attacks; just 2 attack on the chickens with only one fatality, the other chick got away leaving behind a pile of feathers, but was not injured.

My belief is that the guineas, with their loud nature, and quick movements, attract predators hear in North Florida, where I live; The surroundings in their native home of Africa, being more open desert, and possibly different predators may give them a better chance of survival. They are probably better mothers in wide open sandy space than in fields of tall uncut grass, which they could easily lose their chicks in.

The couple that sold me most of the guineas has 200 guineas running wild on his unfenced property, however, he has trained them to spend the night in a large guinea coop which he locks up each night. Wish I had the money to build another coop, but unfortunately I don't, and the guineas can't share the chicken coop, because they pick on the chickens too much, so they roost in the trees at night.

Hope to see the last five surviving guineas outwit these predators, I'm crossing my fingers

Thanks for your story, let me know if things get better with your guinea........JC...

 

[FowlObsessed]

So Sorry to hear about your loss of Guineas. Despite how noisy thy are, I have come to love mine. I am still unfortunately troubled with this lame Rooster I have. However there are periods of time in which I cannot differentiate him from the others. Flying and walking are seemingly 100%. They a day or two later there he is, tippy toeing around the yard again. Much to my surprise, a setting hen came to eat the other afternoon and presented with the same symptoms. I have looked online quite a bit and have been unsuccessful in locating information. I can't believe so many people own guineas and no one writes about the silly little things.

 

[FowlObsessed]

However, I read your past thread and the extra protein and being separated from the others may be beneficial. Will have to do some work to get the latest setting hen a private suite.

 

[JoeCole]

Hello Fowl :O) One of my female guineas was laying on 15 guinea eggs and 2 pea eggs. She's still sitting on them even after she abandon the nest for a few days; they are probably no good now, as they should have hatched already. Yes they are the silliest goons ever; they are a desert bird and were never meant to be raised in wooded areas like where I live in North Florida. I'm down to 4 guineas from 24 just last year; so far they have eluded predators, maybe they'll live to an ripe old age, but I doubt they will ever successfully raise a clutch of chicks. Still have the guinea that stepped on a nail, that birds ankle is larger than the other probably from swelling, but it does not limp anymore....God bless and good luck with your rooster....JC