Injured/deformed foot in 10-week-old keet -- Please help!

[guineamom13]

Hi all. We have been following the 6 weeks in brooder, 4 weeks in coop, and 2 weeks in coop/run before free ranging our 6 guineas. They are now 10 weeks old. The first day that we released them to the run, I noticed that one was walking strangely and laying down a lot. His/her foot looks deformed, but I have no idea what happened. We handled them a fair amount as little keets, and neither of us remembers seeing a deformed foot. In fact, I was on the lookout for curled toes, since I had seen pictures and was concerned. That said, I have no idea what happened or when. I have attached a picture.

Is there anything that I can do for him/her at this point? I've seen things about taping feet, but I don't know if that would work or how to do it. Is there a good site that outlines the steps?

Thanks so much for your help!

Anne

 

[Veer67]

I think that taping her toes at this age would be too late because her bones have already hardened, but let's see what the others say.

 

[guineamom13]

Oh, I hope we can still do something. We really don't think she looked like this four weeks ago when she left the brooder. We handled them every day and watched them in the box in our house -- not sure how we would have missed this! It seems much more likely that it was something that happened in the last four weeks in the coop, but I missed it because they were always perched or piled on top of each other in a corner when I came in. Ugh. Fingers crossed that someone has some hopeful thoughts!

Thanks for your post.

Anne

 

[HoneyDreameMom]

We had a similar experience about 2-3 weeks ago. One of our guineas who had no problems started limping and dragging one of her feet. We caught her and examined her foot (it's amazing how fast a guinea hopping on one leg can move!) and we couldn't see any injuries or feel any breaks, so we just decided to see how she handled things. We've kept a close eye on her, knowing she's at greater risk for predator attack, and we've made sure she always has food and water nearby since she can't always keep up with the flock. Over the past few weeks, she became very agile hopping on one leg, and the last couple of days she's started to put a bit of weight on her other foot. She still limps, but is doing well and can keep up with the flock most of the time.

If you can't determine the cause, I would say just give her time and see if she adapts. If it heals, great! If it doesn't, I can tell you first hand that a one-legged guinea is still something to be reckoned with!

Guineas are remarkable birds!

 

[HoneyDreameMom]

How's your keet been doing? Is he/she getting around ok - any improvement to the foot?