leg injury

[gourdlady]

I have a guinea that was found wedged between two boards. When I found him I assumed he was dead. Very sick it was 90 degrees out and he was missing for two days. I was able to rehydrate him he eats and drinks. However he still cannot get up off his hocks. Have I waited to long to treat further ? He has a slight reflex in the claws of both feet and they are warm to the touch, but he cannot open claws nor stand on his legs. He is confined by himself in a dog run while I work with him. It has been 3 weeks and at this point can only get up on his elbows to scoot about of which he does very little. Any tips would be appreciated. I'm thinking about tapping claws in an open position to see if that helps any.

 

[Naunnie]

Sorry about your Guinea. I read a reply from BYC member "tastybabies "about a young turkey with an injured leg that recommended making a "chick chair". I do not know if it would work for a Guinea, but I would try it for one of my Guineas if I needed to.



Here is the thread. Scroll down to tastybabies reply for instructions for "chick chair". Hope your Guinea recovers soon. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...by-turkey-injury-pictures-video#post_11555091

 

[PeepsCA]

Seems that there's a lot of this going on these days, with adult birds. I've seen it happen with a few keets over the years (I call them hock walkers), but I've never had any issues with my adults... so I don't have much advice for you on this issue.

Can you check to see if the tendons that go over the back of the hocks have slipped off to the side of the joints? If the tendons have slipped, there's not much you can do for the bird, aside from having surgery done to possibly correct it.

If the tendons are still correctly going over the back of the hocks then it may be muscle weakness from a nutritional deficiency. 3 weeks into it, I'm not sure it can be corrected tho, after that long he may have re-programmed himself to keep walking on his hocks no matter what you try. But if he were my bird I would add poultry vitamins to his water and feed him a good quality high protein game bird feed, with some scrambled eggs, raw minced organ meats and meal worms for treats and see if that helps correct it. Taping the feet/toes open may help get him up off his hocks after he's had some nutritional support for a few days, but it's impossible to say if any of this will fix the issue or not.

Best of luck with him.

 

[gourdlady]

Thank you for your responses ! I do not see any obvious injury ...tendons are in place. I do not feel or see anything unusual in any bones or joints. At the onset I wasn't sure as he was in such bad shape. I thought it could be anything broke at that time, pelvis back legs wings....all seem ok. He is on vitamins and I have been supplementing with hard boiled eggs and insects. I think I may try splinting toes as I have to make a permanent decision soon. I may also try some aspirin and will view the chick chair video. I called several bird rehabs when it first occurred but none could advise on meds. When I flip him (not sure if this is a mistake or not) he has strength in the upper legs but not so much below the hock. Wish me luck, not ready to give up on him yet but he can't be reintroduced unless well. He's my only white and seems to be somewhat low man on the pole to begin with. Thanks again.

 

[gourdlady]

Just wanted to post an update in case anyone reads this thread looking for advice. I decided to splint his toes open. I did both feet and he almost instantly did a little better. I then decided to tape his hocks as well. I had noticed he was further injuring his hocks by scooting about on them. In a day or so he was up off the hocks and standing on his feet. He could even walk a bit but was very shaky and so could only take a few steps. He lost a foot splint after two days and I kept meaning to re-splint but never got around to it ...in a day or so more the second foot splint was off but by then I decided to just go with the hock support. He had been having a little trouble with the foot splints as he would step on the splint of the opposite foot while trying to step making his attempts to walk a little tedious. At this point he was able to keep his toes open much better. I did occasionally massage his toes as well as his hocks. I did continue to supplement his diet with sunflower and bird seed as well as grasshoppers japanese beetles and hard boiled egg. Occasionally I would add vitamins to his water but as he spilled a lot of water it was just wasted so I would refresh with plain water. I did not medicate. I looked into the chick chair but opted not to use it because he was so active I did not think I would have success with it. He is now 100% recovered and returned to the flock !!!