hock joint injury to keet..hugging left leg to body

[charid]

See no obvious damage but I wouldn't know what I was looking at meant anyway. I can see the left hock has a groove whereas the right doesn't. Left leg is the bad one. Posted this in guinea fowl forum under raising guinea fowl 101. Hopefully copy and paste work.



Original post - I took pics of the injured leg. It is his left hock joint. I see nothing except maybe the tendon is out.

Bad leg (left, he is upside down too)

Top of bad leg

Good leg

Both legs

I was going to splint the hock joint like this -

I tried to find and re-place tendon and failed because its only easy if you already know whats actually wrong and what you are already doing. Gonna seperate him. Mirror no longer consoles him though. I feel it causes even greater stress but he needs to heal. Any ideas based on pics??

 

[charid]

Can somebody please help me? This is the 2nd post on this. My 24 hr window of hope closes in a few hours. I am new at this. I have read the orthopedics for poultry...not helpful as I am unable to determine injury. 17 days old. So not splayed leg or nutritional deficiency. His bigger brothers crushed him yesterday during flight training.

 

[charid]

He cant straighten leg. I believe the tendon is out or his leg is twisted see bottom pic of both legs. I cant get the tendon back into the groove. See pic 1 as it clearly illustrates a tendonless groove..maybe. I did the side to side thing with the tendon as suggested on the poultry ortho site but it wont go over the ridge of the bone. I bent and then straightened the leg a few times. He then stretched it out when I sat him down but he didnt attempt to stand or walk. I guess I will bend it and straighten it and thump on tendon and hope I dont cause more harm.

 

[charid]

Emergency implying sense of urgency...but then again i guess its not avian 911. Legs is not tucked in and all though he is using it to walk I am guessing its causing the leg to twist. If he cant bear weight I dont know whether to use the sling method or to splint it.

 

[daxigait]

Emergency implying sense of urgency...but then again i guess its not avian 911. Legs is not tucked in and all though he is using it to walk I am guessing its causing the leg to twist. If he cant bear weight I dont know whether to use the sling method or to splint it.

I have no idea, but there is a Keet peafowl thread you could ask on. .

 

[charid]

Yea I did. His joint is getting worse. Couldnt get him in the sling. I figure 10 minutes of stress is enough. I will give it another go in 2 hours after he has slept his fear off and eatten. Poor baby. Threw in some fresh meat...crickets but he didnt see them. I dont see them either so I guess they made their get-away. Got 20 more. *fingers crossed cause im 41 and dont know how to use the smiley guys I have to use the * to emote....

 

[daxigait]

Yea I did. His joint is getting worse. Couldnt get him in the sling. I figure 10 minutes of stress is enough. I will give it another go in 2 hours after he has slept his fear off and eatten. Poor baby. Threw in some fresh meat...crickets but he didnt see them. I dont see them either so I guess they made their get-away. Got 20 more. *fingers crossed cause im 41 and dont know how to use the smiley guys I have to use the * to emote....

There is also a straw and rubbed band method.
@casportpony

 

[charid]

There is also a straw and rubbed band method.
@casportpony

Method of splinting?

 

[charid]

Updating for my own records and to assist anyone in a similar situation in near future.

Made a simple sling. He stayed in it for two minutes. I slung him in my hand for 5. I have been folding and unfolding the joint to stretch out the tendon. I have also been strumming across it. It has begun to lengthen. The bird is pushing the leg away from his body now. He has also attempted stretching on his own. He is much more active since 8 pm. Swelling is down. There is no puss or sign of infection. Eating is good. Nearly everyone said this is a nontreatable condition. I would agree IF you dont have the time to stretch the leg and tendon or splint it. The swings dont work. He finds his way out. Working on model #3.5. Definite progress. End of day 2.

The look of slipped tendon

How to treat

Slings

Splinting

 

[charid]

There is also a straw and rubbed band method.
@casportpony

Wow. Im an airhead cause this was my first splint attempt but i found the plastic of the straw to be too tight. Need a straw with thinner softer plastic. This one must have been industrial strength.